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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks jump as rate hike anxieties ease

Xinhua, April 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday, as the unexpectedly weak jobs report gave investors some relief that the Federal Reserve will move more slowly in raising rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 117.61 points, or 0.66 percent, to 17,880.85. The S&P 500 went up 13.66 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,080.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 30.38 points, or 0.62 percent, to 4,917.32.

Friday's disappointing jobs report, which came out while the market was closed for Good Friday, spurred concerns about the weak economic growth in early 2015.

The U.S. economy added 126,000 jobs in March, well below economists' estimate of 245,000, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

"To give an idea how much weaker-than-expected this number is, before today there had not been a month in the past year when payroll growth was less than 200,000. Now, the three-month average is 197,000," said Chris Low Friday, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Speculations about an early rate hike, however, eased after the report. Fed-funds futures prices, which reflect investors' expectations about U.S. monetary policy, showed Monday that most market participants now see the Fed waiting until December to deliver a rate hike.

Meanwhile, the Non-Manufacturing Index registered 56.5 percent in March, 0.4 percentage point lower than the February reading, said the Institute for Supply Management in its monthly survey.

A strong rebound in oil prices also provided some upward joist to the stock market. U.S. oil price leapt more than 6 percent on Monday as traders reassessed how quickly Iran could increase exports after a preliminary nuclear deal.

In response, the energy sector surged 1.77 percent on Monday, leading the gains of the S&P 500's 10 sectors.

On corporate news, Tesla Motors Inc. said it delivered 10,030 vehicles during the first quarter of 2015, its highest quarterly total ever and a 55 percent increase over the first quarter of 2014. Its shares soared 6.34 percent to 203.10 dollars apiece on Monday. Endite