A surprise improvement in U.S. employment helped propel stocks Friday, capping a week of big gains for sectors that were hardest hit by the coronavirus shutdown.
The unemployment rate declined to 13.3% in May from 14.7% in April, while the labor participation rate increased, with 2.5 million nonfarm jobs being added to the economy. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the unemployment rate to climb to 19%.
President Trump hailed the good news, predicting “we’re going to be back higher next year than ever before.”
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
shot up by 829 points (or 3.2%) for the session, capping a 6.8% gain from a week earlier, led by Boeing Co., which was up 11.5% Friday and up 41% for the week. The index is now down 5% for 2020, after being down as much as 34.9% through the crisis closing bottom March 23. (All price changes in this article exclude dividends.)
• The S&P 500
SPX,
rose 2.6% on Friday. The benchmark index was up 4.9% from a week earlier and is now down only 1.1% this year, after being down 30.7% through the 2020 closing bottom March 23.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
added 2.1% on Friday for a one-week gain of 3.4%. The index is now up 9.4% this year, after falling as much as 23.5% through its 2020 closing bottom March 23.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil for July delivery
CL.1,
rose 5% to $39.91 for a one-week gain of 13%. OPEC+ oil producers are expected to finalize a deal to cut production this weekend.
Among the 11 sectors of the S&P 500, energy was the strongest Friday and was also up the most from a week earlier:
| S&P 500 sector | Price change – June 5 | Price change – 1 week | Price change – 2020 | Price change – 2019 |
| Energy | 7.5% | 15.4% | -26.3% | 7.6% |
| Financials | 3.9% | 12.2% | -15.0% | 29.2% |
| Industrials | 3.7% | 10.5% | -8.4% | 26.8% |
| Real Estate | 3.6% | 7.1% | -4.5% | 24.9% |
| Information Technology | 2.7% | 3.6% | 10.6% | 48.0% |
| Materials | 2.5% | 7.6% | -2.8% | 21.9% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 2.1% | 4.8% | 6.5% | 26.2% |
| Communication Services | 1.7% | 2.4% | 2.0% | 30.9% |
| Health Care | 1.7% | 0.2% | 1.1% | 18.7% |
| Consumer Staples | 1.5% | 1.9% | -4.6% | 24.0% |
| Utilities | 1.4% | 2.4% | -5.8% | 22.2% |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Scroll the table to see all the data.
Further illustrating the trend of industries that have suffered the most during the COVID-19 shutdown bouncing back, the S&P 500 airlines industry group was up 4.3% on Friday for a one-week increase of 34.6%. The hotels, resorts and cruise lines group was up 6.9% on Friday and up 22.4% for the week. The airlines are still down 39.3% for 2020, and the hotels, resorts and cruise lines group is down 37.7%.
Here are the 22 S&P 500 stocks that showed double-digit gains (with percentages rounded up) on Friday:
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