Dow Jones Soars 700 Points: Strong Jobs Report And Debt Ceiling Bill Drive Best Single-Day Gain Of The Year

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its strongest single-day performance of the year on Friday, surging 701 points on the back of an encouraging jobs report and the successful passage of a bill to raise the debt ceiling.

The S&P 500 rose by 1.5% on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite saw a 1.1% uptick, marking its highest point since April 2022 within the trading day.

Investors responded positively to an agreement between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on a deal to temporarily suspend the U.S. borrowing limit until 2025. The debt ceiling deal passed both the House and the Senate just in time to avoid a government default.

The political success was complemented by stronger-than-expected jobs data. U.S. employers added 339,000 nonfarm payrolls in May, surpassing expectations of 190,000, with unemployment still at a historically low rate of 3.7%.

Chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) crossed the $1-trillion market cap threshold on Tuesday, riding a wave that started the previous week, when the company's first-quarter earnings report positioned it as a leading provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure technology. 

Shares of electric vehicle maker Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) dropped by double digits on the week after the company announced a capital raise of $3 billion, including a stock offering and a $1.8-billion private placement from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Athleisure apparel company Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) became one of the biggest movers of the week, rising over 15% after hours Thursday, after the retailer  posted first-quarter earnings that exceeded analyst expectations. The retailer’s sales growth of 24% year-over-year was led by the Chinese market.

What To Watch: Next week, investors should be ready to watch out for earnings of British plumbing and heating products distributor Ferguson (NYSE:FREG) on Monday, supermarket giant Kroger (NYSE:KR) on Tuesday, digital signing platform Docusign (NASDAQ:DOCU) on Thursday and Chinese EV maker NIO (NYSE:NIO) on Friday.