Wall Street Higher after Jobs Data; Dow up 200 Points

(C) Reuters.

By Christiana Sciaudone

Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened higher on Thursday, after labor and unemployment data came in better than expected, and ahead of a long holiday weekend.

By 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 400 points or 1.58% at 26,140.53 points. The S&P 500 was up 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.

The U.S. labor market extended its recovery from April’s collapse in June, creating over 1.5 million more jobs than expected as lockdown restrictions across the nation were eased.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 4.8 million jobs in June, the Labor Department’s monthly employment showed Thursday. That was the most since the government started keeping records in 1939. Payrolls rebounded 2.699 million in May.

The unemployment rate fell to 11.1% last month from 13.3% in May.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)., which is now worth more than Toyota (NYSE:TM), beat estimates for second-quarter vehicle deliveries on Thursday with 90,650 vehicles, above estimates of 74,130 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data.

Crude oil prices held above $40 a barrel in early trade in New York on Thursday as the market shrugged off a report saying that Saudi Arabia had threatened its OPEC partners with another price war if they don’t comply with the most recent agreement on output restraint.