Wall Street Indexes Scale New Highs After June's Jobs Report Lifts Sentiment

Barry Adams
03 Jul, 2025
New York City

Stocks advanced on Wall Street after nonfarm payrolls expanded at a faster-than-expected pace in June. 

The S&P 500 index gained 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6% after better-than-expected payrolls eased worries about the volatile U.S. trade policy and geopolitical uncertainties. 

 

U.S. Economy Added Jobs at Faster Than Expected Pace in June

The U.S. economy added jobs at a faster-than-expected pace of 147,000 in June, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised up by 11,000, from an increase of 147,000 to a rise of 158,000, and the change for May was revised up by 5,000, from 139,000 to 144,000. 

With these revisions, employment in April and May combined is 16,000 higher than previously reported. 

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents, or 0.2%, from the previous month, or 3.7% from a year ago, in June.

Both the unemployment rate, at 4.1%, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.0 million, changed little in June. 

The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024.

 

U.S. Trade Deficit Widens as Businesses Front-Load Ahead of Tariffs

The U.S. overall trade deficit expanded in May after exports fell, according to the monthly report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

Exports decreased 4% to $279 billion, imports fell 0.1% to $350.5 billion, and the trade deficit rose 18.7% to $71.5 billion from the previous month, respectively. 

The largest trade deficit was recorded with the European Union, totaling $22.5 billion compared to $17.9 billion in April. 

Deficits with Mexico and Vietnam increased, largely because of a surge in indirect exports from China. 

The trade gap with Vietnam rose to $14.9 billion from $14.5 billion, with Mexico it soared to $17.1 billion from $13.5 billion, and with Canada it advanced to $2.8 billion from $2.0 billion. 

The direct trade deficit with China shrank to $14.0 billion from $19.7 billion, as China-based manufacturers diversified operations to other locations. 

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.5% to 6,260.57, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.6% to 20,519.41, and the Russell 2000 index advanced 0.5% to 2,237.36.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged higher to 3.88%, 10-year Treasury notes increased to 4.33%, and 30-year Treasury bonds advanced to 4.85%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.38 to $67.07 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged higher by $0.03 to $3.52 a thermal unit.

Gold decreased by $24.34 to $3,333.88 an ounce, and silver edged up by $0.22 to $36.78.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, increased by 0.36 to 97.14 and traded at the lowest level since April 2022.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Advanced chip design software developers gained after the U.S. removed some of the restrictions on sales to China. 

Cadence Design Systems Inc. jumped 4.5% to $325.23, Synopsys soared 4.1% to $544.61, and ANSYS jumped 3.4% to $365.38. 

Datadog Inc. soared 13.2% to $152.83, and the Internet infrastructure management company was selected to be included in the S&P 500 index before the start of trading on July 9.