S&P closes high as jobs report eases concerns S&P closes at record high as soft jobs report eases rate-hike concerns (copy)

U.S. stocks advanced on Friday, with the S&P closing at a record high to cap off a strong week of gains for the major indexes, after data showed the economy shed jobs last month and dampened expectations the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in September.

The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls decreased by 23,000 jobs last month, well below the estimate of economists polled by Reuters that called for an increase of 80,000 jobs. Previously reported job gains for the prior two months were also revised sharply lower, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% last month from 4.2%.

Market expectations for a rate hike from the Fed dropped to about 44%, according to CME FedWatch, down from 55% in the prior session and 67% a week ago.

Signs of progress for a potential peace deal in the Iran war helped cool oil prices and ease inflation worries.

A strong earnings season also tempered concerns about spending by AI-related companies, sending each of the three major indexes to their biggest weekly percentage gains since mid-April.

Of the 436 companies in the S&P 500 that reported results through Friday morning, 85.1% topped analyst expectations, according to LSEG data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 151.83 points, or 0.28%, to 54,036.93; the S&P 500 gained 47.68 points, or 0.62%, to 7,757.64; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 342.26 points, or 1.30%, to 26,690.62.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 3.58%, the Nasdaq rose 5.19%, and the Dow climbed 2.96%.

SpaceX surged 15.8% a day after the expiry of the first of several share lockup restrictions following its record public offering in June.

Collaboration software maker Atlassian shot up 35.3% for its largest-ever daily percentage gain, while chip company Microchip Tech jumped 13.9%, its best daily performance in more than 15 months, after both forecast quarterly revenue above estimates.

Among other movers, Airbnb rose 17.4% as the best performer on the S&P 500 after beating second-quarter revenue estimates. In contrast, Trade Desk plummeted 21.9% as the worst performer on the benchmark index after the ad-tech firm forecast third-quarter revenue below expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.49-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange and by a 2.07-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted nine new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 123 new highs and 77 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 16.94 billion shares, compared with the 17.56 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.