U.S. stocks rallied Friday, with both the S P 500 and the Nasdaq setting new closing records, as investors digested a batch of economic data, including a key non-farm payrolls report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.51 points, or 0.32 percent, to 19,963.80, after hitting an intraday all-time high of 19,999.63.
The S P 500 added 7.98 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,276.98.
The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 33.12 points, or 0.60 percent, to 5,521.06.
U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 156,000 in December, missing market consensus of 175,000, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the Labor Department announced Friday.
In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased 10 cents to 26.00 U.S. dollars, after edging down by 2 cents in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.9 percent.
"Treasury yields are higher this morning on the combination of tepid job growth and faster-than-expected wage inflation. The two together suggest it is becoming more difficult to find employees," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the goods and services deficit was 45.2 billion dollars in November, up 2.9 billion dollars from October's revised reading.
In a separate report, the apartment said that new orders for manufactured goods in November decreased 11.3 billion dollars or 2.4 percent to 458.3 billion dollars, following four consecutive monthly increases.
For the holiday-shortened week, all three major indices posted solid gains, with the Dow, the S P 500 and the Nasdaq going up 1.0 percent, 1.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
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