The blue-chip S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent. In Europe, the regional Stoxx Europe 600 gained 1.8%. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major bonds, fell 1.6 percent. The move came after Susan Collins and Thomas Barkin, the heads of the Fed’s Boston and Richmond branches, respectively, said the central bank should begin to consider slowing rate hikes. Investors also looked at data showing the U.S. added 261,000 jobs in October, beating Wall Street expectations for 200,000. The jobless rate, however, rose 0.2 percentage points to 3.7 percent in October, higher than the forecast of 3.6 percent. Wages, meanwhile, rose 0.4 percent from the previous month, the report showed — higher than the 0.3 percent gain forecast. Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, said the jobs report strengthened the case for a smaller 0.5 percentage point hike at the Fed’s December meeting and “helped the stock market” because higher unemployment figures suggest that payroll numbers are “shifting lower but not collapsing.” “. The Fed raised its interest rate for the fourth time in a row by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday as it tries to reduce inflation to its 2% target. Powell’s warning that recent data suggested “the final level of interest rates will be higher than expected” sent US stocks lower and led to a sharp rise in short-term US government bond yields. The yield on the two-year note, which is highly sensitive to near-term monetary policy expectations, retreated from Thursday’s peak, when it hit its highest level since mid-2007. The note’s yield slipped 0.03 percentage points to 4 .67 percent on Friday. Chinese shares soared, extending their weekly gains on hopes that Beijing will reverse its long-standing zero-Covid policy. The CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen shares gained 3.3%. Industrial metal prices soared on the news. Coupled with a weaker dollar, some key commodities were on track for historic daily gains. Copper, a health barometer for the global economy, rose 6.5% to top $8,000 a tonne for the first time in two months. Other base metals nickel, zinc and tin also rose more than 5 percent after retreating since March on macroeconomic fears that have outweighed supply concerns. Gold rose 2.8 percent to $1,677 a troy ounce, putting it on course for its best day since March, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict rocked global markets. That also boosted earnings for mining groups Anglo American, up 11 percent, and Rio Tinto, up 8 percent in London. The FTSE 100 rose 2%. Reports that US regulators had completed a review of Chinese audit reports earlier than expected boosted investor optimism around Chinese shares, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closing up 5.4%.
