How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 5/3/2024

Stocks closed sharply higher on Wall Street, erasing their losses for the week, after the government reported a cooldown in hiring last month. For markets that was a welcome sign that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation by slowing the economy with high interest rates might be making some progress. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% Friday, its biggest gain since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%. and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2%. U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs last month, down sharply from a big increase in March. Apple jumped after announcing a mammoth $110 billion stock buyback.