Markets rise as US employment rises less than expected

Markets rose on Friday.

The S&p 500 rose 0.2 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.6 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 percent.

A report on Friday showed that the US economy added 156,000 jobs in August, less than the 170,000-180,000 expected by economists.

“This report just kind of pushed back every expectation about a rate hike,” said Mike Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Indeed, a CNBC report noted that in the past, when the employment report fell short of expectations by between 20,000 to 30,000 jobs, the Nasdaq tended to lead other indexes higher, gaining an average of almost 1.7 percent for the next month and trading positively 67 percent of the time.