U.S. stocks rise toward records as solid data on the job market overshadows higher oil prices

U.S. stocks are rising toward records Friday following the latest sign that the nation’s job market is doing better than economists expected.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 per cent and was on track to top its all-time high after a report said U.S. employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 19 points, or 0.1 per cent, as of 1:10 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5 per cent higher and heading for its own record.

While hiring slowed from March’s level, it was nevertheless nearly double what economists expected. And it helped keep the S&P 500 on track for a sixth straight winning week, which would be its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has blasted higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.

It’s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes to receive “a serious offer” from Iran later in the day after Washington gave its latest proposal to end the war and reopen the strait.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 1.5 per cent to US$101.54 following the latest volleys of fire in the war. It’s still much more expensive than it was before the fighting began, when it was at roughly $70 per barrel, but it’s not as high as its heights above $119 during the war.