Markets rise after positive US jobs report

Markets were mostly higher on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 1.0 percent but the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 percent.

Markets were boosted by a report showing that the US economy gained 209,000 new jobs in July.

“European and U.S. markets are pushing higher after an overwhelmingly positive U.S. jobs report, despite the fact that this greatly increased the likeliness of a third and final interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in 2017,” said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony in a note.

Jeff Zipper, managing director of investments at US Bank Private Client Wealth Management, said that with corporate results “coming in nicely”, stocks “will continue to grind higher until the end of the year”.