Benchmarks Fare: Index and Points

benchmarks fare: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.15% advanced 40.36 points, or 0.2%, to 26,424.99 and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.59% rose 46.91 points, or 0.6%, to 7,938.69, according to Market Watch. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 2.1%, the blue-chip index added 1.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 2.7%. What drove the market March jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 196,000 new jobs, above consensus expectations of 177,000 in a Market Watch poll of economists. How did the benchmarks fare The S&P 500 index SPX, 0.46% climbed 13.35 points, or 0.5%, to 2,892.74, rising for the seventh straight session. The Labor Department's official measure of unemployment held steady at 3.8%. However, despite what appears to be strong demand for workers, wage growth remained modest, with average hourly earnings rising 4 cents to 27.70, a year-over-year increase of 3.2%, down from 3.4% in February. Earlier Thursday, Trump said the U.S. and China were rounding the turn in lengthy talks and predicted that something monumental for both countries could be announced in a matter of weeks. Read Hiring speeds up as U.S. economy adds 196,000 jobs in March The positive sentiment was also supported by Xinhua News Agency's report that Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a letter to President Donald Trump that substantial progress had been made in U.S.-China talks over the past months and called for negotiations to be wrapped up as soon as possible. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.