NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages finished higher on Friday even after data showed U.S. employment growth slowed last month amid soaring COVID-19 infections.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 248.74 points, or 0.83 percent, to 30,218.26. The S&P 500 was up 32.40 points, or 0.88 percent, to 3,699.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 87.05 points, or 0.70 percent, to 12,464.23. All the three major indexes posted intraday and closing record highs.
Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors advanced, with energy ending up 5.43 percent, outperforming others. Utilities slipped 1.04 percent, the worst-performing group.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower, with seven of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.
The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November, following a downwardly revised 610,000 in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, well below a Dow Jones consensus estimate of 440,000. The unemployment rate edged down to 6.7 percent from 6.9 percent in October, in line with expectations.
The figures indicated the U.S. job market and the economy are faltering in face of a surging pandemic.
The United States on Thursday reported record numbers of new infections, single-day deaths and hospitalizations. The nation has registered around 14.3 million confirmed cases, with the death toll exceeding 278,000 as of Friday afternoon, showed a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Enditem
