US stocks up as weak jobs data calm Fed rate hike fears

ANKARA

The US stock market opened higher Friday as weak jobs data have calmed fears of investors about the possibility of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones rose a new record high of 34,578 points at the first bell before retreating to 34,552 at 9.40 a.m. EDT (1340GMT).

While the S&P 500 added 15 points to 4,217, the Nasdaq jumped 100 points, or 0.7%, to 13,733 with Zoom Video and Twitter rising 2.8% and 1.4%, respectively.

US economy added only 266,000 jobs in April, much lower than the estimate of a 978,000 increase, according to the Department of Labor earlier.

The data indicated that the labor market is still weak in the world's largest economy, and it has a long way until full recovery that the Fed awaits in order to raise interest rates.

Investors have been worried in recent weeks that the central bank would signal making a rate hike before 2023, which it earlier has shown as a target.

As such worries were subdued, the VIX volatility index fell more than 2% below the 18 level. The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds was also down 0.1% to 1.559%.

While gold was up 1.1% to $1,834 at the time, silver gained 0.5% to $27.4.