Stocks Rise as Tepid Jobs Report Stokes Hopes for Low Rates

U.S. stocks rose Friday as investors found some positive aspects in a middling employment report. Job growth slowed in August, and traders hope that will convince the Federal Reserve to wait before raising interest rates.

Stocks started the day with big gains following the Labor Department’s job report. Energy companies rose more than the rest of the market as oil prices broke out of a four-day slump. The gains were broad, but the stocks that rose the most were utilities, which would stand to benefit if interest rates remain low.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 72.66 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,491.96. The Dow rose as much as 125 points in the morning. The S&P’s 500 index rose 9.12 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,179.98. The Nasdaq composite gained 22.69 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,249.90.

Compared to the last few months, job gains slowed in most major industries in August and wages only rose a little. While the U.S. is on a long streak of job growth, reports over the last few months have been inconsistent. Growth was weak in April and May, but picked up in June and July and seems to have slowed again last month.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates slightly in December and wants to gradually bring them back closer to where they were before the financial crisis of 2008. But most investors didn’t expect rates to rise this month, and the jobs report appeared to confirm that.

U.S. benchmark crude oil rose $1.28, or 3 percent, to $44.44 a barrel in N.Y. Brent crude added $1.38, or 3 percent, to $46.83 a barrel in London. U.S. crude had fallen 9 percent over the last four days. Anadarko Petroleum added $2.95, or 5.5 percent, to $56.49 and Chevron picked up 72 cents to $100.93.

Utilities made even bigger gains. They’re seen as steady investments, and their high dividends make them more appealing when bond yields are low. NextEra Energy gained $2.13, or 1.8 percent, to $123.13 and American Electric Power rose 83 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $65.24.

Health-care companies missed out on the gains as drugmakers fell. Hillary Clinton announced a plan Friday that’s intended to give the government more power to resist increases in the price of older drugs. Mylan fell $1.95, or 4.7 percent, to $39.97 as legislators questioned the company’s rebate payments to Medicare. Mylan stock has dropped 18 percent in the last two weeks as the company has been criticized for repeatedly raising the price of its EpiPen allergy injection. Elsewhere, Mallinckrodt fell $3.17, or 4.2 percent, to $72.42.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 1.61 percent from 1.57 percent. The dollar rose to 103.94 yen from 103.32 yen and the euro edged down to $1.1159 from $1.1197.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.30 a gallon. Heating oil also gained 3 cents to $1.41 a gallon. Natural gas remained at $2.79 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $9.60 to $1,326.70 an ounce. Silver added 42 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $19.37 an ounce. Copper edged up less than 1 cent to $2.08 a pound.

The FTSE 100 in Britain jumped 2.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 rose 2.3 percent. In Germany, the DAX climbed 1.4 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index finished practically unchanged while South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.3 percent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent.