NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose Friday following a solid US jobs report that solidified expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week.
US employers added a net 235,000 new positions in February, well above analyst forecasts, as unemployment dipped a tenth of a point to 4.7 percent.
The report also showed a 0.2 percent increase in average hourly earnings.
Analysts said the report boosted the already-elevated odds the Fed will increase the benchmark lending rate on March 15.
The jobs data virtually guarantees higher interest rates “barring an asteroid strike on Washington,” said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2 percent to end the week at 20,902.98.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 percent to close at 2,372.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 5,861.73.
Stocks with larger gains included General Electric, up 2.1 percent, and Caterpillar, which gained 1.0 percent after suffering declines earlier in the week.
Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty rose 4.6 percent after reporting a 30 percent increase in fourth quarter earnings to $140.2 million.
