Shares rose early Friday, after the monthly employment report showed the US lost jobs in December, while investors continued to look ahead to the prospect of additional fiscal stimulus.
The S&P 500 stock index added 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%, or about 20 points, down partly due to a decline in stocks of the industrial conglomerate 3M.
All three indexes closed by records on Thursday as investors focused on the potential for more government spending following victories in run-off races in Georgia that will give Democrats control of the US Senate.
Meanwhile, the rising coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh on the economy. Friday’s Labor Department report showed the US would cut 140,000 jobs in December, ending seven months of job growth.
“So far, investors continue to look beyond the weakness of this report and other economic data as they are confident that more fiscal stimulus will come,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. “And that if the vaccine is distributed, it will only be temporary and hopefully in the not-too-distant future we can move beyond the weakness of this number.”