Jobs Data Boosts US Stocks

Wall Street stocks rallied on Friday after US jobs growth topped expectations, shifting attention from global trade war worries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the final session of the week with a gain of 0.9 percent at 24,635.21.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent to end at 2,734.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.5 percent to 7,554.33.

Officials continued to respond to President Donald Trump's decision on Thursday to impose trade tariffs on imported steel and aluminium from Europe, Mexico and Canada, with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warning at a Group of Seven ministerial in Canada that Trump was risking "economic destabilisation of the planet."

But investors took solace from strong US data.

The Labor Department reported that the US added 223,000 non-farm jobs last month, stronger than the consensus forecast of economists, and unemployment fell 3.8 percent, its lowest level in 18 years.

A report by the Institute for Supply Management on the manufacturing industry also topped expectations.

"A lot of the economic data today were stronger than expected," said Karl Haeling of LBBW.

"It gives some more confidence to equity investors that all the trade disputes we are having is not going to hurt down the economy."

Technology shares led the market, with Apple winning 1.8 percent, Facebook 1.1 percent and Google-parent Alphabet 3.2 percent.

Ford rose 1.4 percent after reporting that May US car sales rose 0.7 percent, better than the 1.9 percent decline expected by Edmunds.com

US-traded shares of Petrobras dived 14.7 percent after chief executive Pedro Parente resigned from the Brazilian oil giant in the wake of a devastating truckers' strike over high fuel prices.

Parente quit after Brazil President Michel Temer bowed to demands from truckers for cheaper fuel, guaranteeing them discounted diesel for a period of 60 days. (AFP)