U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session Monday, as Wall Street believed that the possibility for the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rate this year becomes lower following a weaker-than-expected jobs report Friday.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 189.78 points, or 1.15 percent, to 16,662.15. The S&P 500 rose 23.84 points, or 1.22 percent, to 1,975.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 44.61 points, or 0.95 percent, to 4,752.38. U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in September, well below market consensus of 203,000, the Labor Department announced Friday. The unemployment rate remained at 5.1 percent in September.
Some analysts thought that a soft jobs report could give the Federal Reserve some reason to postpone rate hikes. European equities were sharply higher Monday after the weak jobs report, with major indices surging over 2 percent.
Tokyo stocks also rose 1.58 percent Monday as investor sentiment was lifted by gains in U.S. equities before the weekend. On the economic front, the U.S. Non-Manufacturing Index registered 56.9 percent in September, lower than the August reading of 59 percent and below market expectations of 57.5 percent, said the Institute Supply Management (ISM) in its monthly survey Monday.
Meanwhile, the third-quarter earnings reporting season will kick off later this week. Earnings are expected to decline around 4 percent for the S&P 500, according to Thomson Reuters. U.S. stocks reversed deep losses to end sharply higher Friday, as investors were digesting the newly-released poor nonfarm payroll report.
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