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Wall Street’s 9th day of gains puts markets on track

Wall Street extended its gains to a ninth straight day, marking its longest winning streak since 2004 and reclaiming the ground it lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.

The rally on Friday was spurred by a better-than-expected report on the job market and resurgent hope of a ratcheting down of the trade showdown with China. The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%. Treasury yields rose in the bond market after the government reported that employers added more jobs than forecast in April.

The gains were broad. Roughly 90% of stocks and every sector in the S&P 500 advanced. Technology stocks were among the companies doing the heaviest lifting. Microsoft rose 2.6% and Nvidia rose 3%. Apple, however, fell 4% after the iPhone maker estimated that tariffs will cost it $900 million.

Banks and other financial companies also made solid gains. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.4% and Visa added 1.3%.

Employers added 177,000 jobs in April. That marks a slowdown in hiring from March, but it was solidly better than economists anticipated. However, the latest job figures don’t yet reflect the effects on the economy of President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs against America’s trading partners. Many of the more severe tariffs that were supposed to go into effect in April were delayed by three months, with the notable exception of tariffs against China.

“We’ve already seen how financial markets will react if the administration moves forward with their initial tariff plan, so unless they take a different tack in July when the 90-day pause expires, we will see market action similar to the first week of April,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management.

The market has now clawed back its losses from the first week of April, helped by a string of resilient earnings reports from U.S. companies, hopes for de-escalation of trade tensions with China and expectations that the Federal Reserve will still be able to cut rates a few times this year.

The job market is being closely watched for signs of stress amid trade war tensions. Strong employment has helped fuel solid consumer spending and economic growth over the last few years. Economists are now worried about the impact that taxes on imports will have on consumers and businesses, especially about how higher costs will hurt hiring and spending. The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace during the first quarter of the year. It was slowed by a surge in imports as businesses tried to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

Companies have been cutting and withdrawing financial forecasts because of the uncertainty over how much tariffs will cost them and how much they will squeeze consumers and sap spending.

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