SUNDAY – Stocks posted their second weekly rise on Friday as stocks were boosted by better-than-expected jobs data and progress on the U.S.-China trade front.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both rose about 2% this week, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.7%. On Friday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed up by 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

Materials and financials were the best-performing sectors this week, rising 4.3% and 3.3%, respectively. Bank shares led the gains in financials. Morgan Stanley rose more than 6% this week, while Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup all ended the week up more than 5%.

The U.S. economy added 196,000 jobs in March, according to data released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected 175,000. The U.S. unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained at 3.8%. However, wage growth expanded 3.2% just below an expected gain of 3.4%.

Wall Street was looking forward to this report after the previous jobs data showed growth of just 20,000. That number was revised higher to 33,000 on Friday.

Friday’s strong jobs report comes after the release of disappointing economic data earlier in the week. Activity in the U.S. services sector fell to its lowest level since August 2017 while payrolls data released on Wednesday was also below expectations.

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