The US stock market set new records

The US stock market closed at new record levels on Friday. The news of weak job creation in April was a big disappointment, but it signaled to investors that interest rates are likely to remain low. The Dow Jones Index set a record for the third day in a row. The S&P 500 index broke its previous record, which it set last month. Technology companies contributed a large part to the growth of the stock market, but they also strengthened energy and industrial companies and companies producing non-basic consumer goods. Friday's report on job creation in the US was a huge disappointment, as it showed that the number of employees in the country increased by only 266,000. It was significantly less than expected by economists that their number would increase by 975 thousand. However, Peter Essele of the Commonwealth Financial Network said that much of the small increase in jobs was not due to low labor demand but insufficient supply. The S&P 500 index strengthened by 0.7 percent to 4,232.60 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Index also rose 0.7 percent to 34,777.76 points. The technology Nasdaq improved 0.9 percent to 13,752.24 points. Shares of small companies also rose significantly. The Russell 2000 Small Business Index outperformed other indices, rising 1.4 percent to 2,271.63 points. At the end of the week, European stock markets also strengthened. The index of the French stock exchange CAC 40 gained 0.5 percent, the German stock index DAX gained 1.3 percent and the British FTSE 100 strengthened by 0.8 percent.