Wall Street was already on pace for solid weekly gains. Entering Friday’s session, the Dow was up 3.5% week to date. The S&P 500 had gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.
U.S. employers added a shocking 2.5 million jobs last month while the unemployment rate slid to 13.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a drop of more than 8 million jobs and the unemployment rate to nearly reach 20%.
The report boosted confidence of a swift economic recovery among traders, leading them into stocks that would benefit the most a broad reopening.
Shares of airlines jumped in premarket trading, adding to their big gains this week, as the industry added more summer flights. American Airlines jumped 28.4% in premarket trading Friday. United Airlines shares surged 20.2%. The US Global Jets ETF is up 27% this week. Cruise-line operators such as Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival both advanced more than 13% while Royal Caribbean gained 9.8%.
MGM Resorts jumped 5.4% in the premarket while Kohl’s and Nordstrom advanced more than 10% each. Mall operator Simon Property gained 7.3%. Stay-at-home winners such as Netflix and Amazon dipped.
