NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street surged on Friday after a strikingly upbeat May jobs report unexpectedly provided the clearest evidence yet that the U.S. economy is headed for a quicker-than-anticipated recovery.
FILE PHOTO: Traders wear masks as they work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The Nasdaq breached its all-time closing high reached in February but pared its gains to end the session a hair’s breadth below it. All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced 2% or more.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are now 5.7% and 8.3% below their respective closing records.
The benchmark S&P 500 is now 1.1% below its year-to-date break-even level.
The U.S. economy added a remarkable 2.5 million jobs last month, rebounding from April’s record 20.7 million drop and pushing the unemployment rate down to 13.3%. Analysts saw unemployment soaring to a historic 19.8%.
“The numbers are a huge surprise to the upside,