U.S. stocks were little changed, after equities erased an early drop, as jobs data signaled the economy is strong enough to support an increase in interest rates this year.
Consumer staples companies dropped as the dollar surged, with Philip Morris International Inc. and Altria Group Inc. sliding more than 2.1 percent. Utilities shares tumbled, while banks rallied as bond yields jumped, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. adding at least 1.9 percent. Energy shares climbed after oil prices rebounded. Occidental Petroleum Corp. rose 2.4 percent.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost less than 0.1 percent to 2,095.01 at 1:10 p.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 32.37 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,873.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 percent, and the Russell 200 Index advanced 0.2 percent.
Payrolls climbed in May by the most in five months and worker pay accelerated, showing companies were upbeat about the U.S. economy’s prospects after an early-year slump. The 280,000 advance in payrolls exceeded the 226,000 median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. The unemployment rate crept up to 5.5 percent as more people entered the labor force, while while hourly earnings rose from a year ago by the most since August 2013.
Source : Bloomberg
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