Indexes: Dow up 0.38%, S&P up 0.09%, Nasdaq down 0.30%.
July 6 - The Dow and the S&P 500 scaled record highs on Friday as shares in economy-linked sectors advanced after a solid increase in job opportunities in July, helping allay fears of the Delta variant impacting a newly formed economy recovery.
Unemployment payrolls increased in this month by 943,000 jobs, report showed, amid demand for workers in labor-intensive services industry. Economists projected 870,000 job additions.
It is exactly the kind of report that the market was going for, in that it is strong, says Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors.
It suggests that a labor market recovery is in play but also not so strong that it's going to push forward the timings of the Fed tapering. That's goldilocks, that perfect mix of strong but not too strong.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 investment sectors were highest in early trading, with financials, materials and energy leading the advance. The S&P 500 index for technology fell 0.3%.
The much anticipated jobs numbers dovetailed with data that showed a strong decline in U.S. unemployment claims and last week's weak corporate earnings report.
Although the three main indexes are set to end the week with nominal gains following a stellar corporate earnings season, fears of higher inflation resulting in a sudden taper in monetary policy have hurt sentiment
Focus now turns to a meeting of Federal Reserve leaders in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to discuss policy and decide future stimulus strategy.
ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 134.15 points, or 0.38% at 35,198. 40 and the S&P 500 was up 3.88 points, or 0.09%, at 4,432. 98
The Nasdaq Composite was down 44.90 points, or 0.30%, at 14,850. 22, pressured by declines in growth stocks including Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc, which fell about 0.5% each.
On the earnings front, American International Group Inc rose 3.5% as it beat the second quarter profit estimates on Thursday.
Zynga Inc tumbled 17.3% after issuing a disappointing forecast for bookings and announcing a potential acquisition worth more than half a billion dollars.
Doi Global Inc. added 3.1% of U.S. - listed shares of ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc as Bloomberg News reported that it was considering giving up control of its valuable data as part of efforts to resolve a Chinese regulatory probe.
Corteva Inc has increased 6.4% after raising its net sales forecast for the year.
Analysts expect second quarter profit growth of 92.9% for the S&P 500 companies, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Of the 427 companies in the index which have reported earnings so far, 87.6% beat analyst expectations, the highest on record.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.47 to -1 ratio on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a ratio of 1.11 -- to 1 in the Nasdaq.
The S&P index reported 26 new highs and no new low for 52 weeks, while the Nasdaq Index recorded 72 new highs and 35 new lows.