Major US stock indexes rose slightly

Major US stock indexes recorded a rise on Friday, despite weaker than expected employment data in the US.

So, job growth in the US slowed more than expected in August after two consecutive months of strong growth, but the growth rate should be more than enough to allow the Federal Reserve to announce plans to begin cutting its large-scale bond portfolio. However, sluggish wage growth could make the US central bank cautious in raising interest rates this year. The Ministry of Labor reported that the number of jobs in the non-agricultural sector increased by 156,000 last month after rising by 189,000 in July.

The report, published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), showed that in August, activity in the US manufacturing sector improved more than average expert predictions. The PMI index for the manufacturing sector was 58.8 points against 56.3 points in July. Analysts had expected the figure to rise to 56.5.

The final results of the research, submitted by Thomson-Reuters and the Michigan Institute, showed that in July, US consumers felt more optimistic about the economy than last month. According to the data, in August the consumer sentiment index rose to 96.8 points compared with the final reading for July 93.4 points and the preliminary value for August was 97.6 points. It was predicted that the index will be 97.4 points.

Most components of the DOW index recorded a rise (22 out of 30). The leader of growth was shares of General Electric Company (GE, + 2.59%). Outsider were shares United Technologies Corporation (UTX, -1.52%).

Most sectors of the S & P index finished trading in positive territory. The conglomerate sector grew most (+ 1.4%). The utilities sector showed the greatest decrease (-0.1%).

At closing:

Dow + 0.18% 21.987.11 +39.01

Nasdaq + 0.10% 6.435.33 +6.67

S & P + 0.19% 2.476.41 +4.76