Wall Street rallies after strong US jobs report

Wall Street has come back after a volatile period. The US markets roared back after a positive US Labor Department employment report and news about upcoming trade talks between the US and China.

Wall Street recovers, Fed chief relaxes

Wall Street has endured a lot of unpredictability before the recently released US Bureau of Labor Statistics report that the US economy added 312,000 jobs. After the encouraging news that the markets reacted and surged by as much as 700 points.

The positive jobs report also seemed to reassure US Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell. He recently made dovish comments that likely mean the Fed won’t raise interest rates soon. Powell noted that while the US central bank is independent of Wall Street, he will still pay attention to how the markets are moving before he makes decisions about increasing interest rates.

‘We will be patient as we watch to see how the economy evolves. We are always prepared to shift the stance of policy and to shift it significantly,’ said Powell.

However, Julia Coronado, president of MacroPolicy Perspectives, thinks that the good economic news could give the Fed license to increase rates.

‘Taken in isolation, the [jobs] report would tend to increase the likelihood the Fed is not finished,’ said Coronado.

Will the rally last?

The US stock market's uptick from the employment news makes economic experts optimistic that it’s a rebuke of talks of recession. Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell, feels that the recent job growth will continue to help US markets.

‘It’s hard to square recession worries with the strongest job growth we’ve seen in years. The strong December jobs report is a net positive for stocks because investors’ biggest concern has been slowing growth,’ said young.