Roundup: U.S. stocks rally amid robust jobs data

U.S. stocks closed up this week, recovering their post-Brexit losses, as Wall Street shifted its focus from Brexit to the newly-released nonfarm payrolls report.

For this holiday-shortened week, all three major indices witnessed sizable gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq up 1.1 percent, 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June, exceeding market expectation of 175,000 and the fastest pace since October, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.9 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.

Investors said the June nonfarm report signaled renewed momentum for labor market growth and mollified concerns of an economic slowdown in the United States, as May's payroll rose only by 38,000 and notched the fewest monthly job gain in almost six years.

"The employment gain in June was hefty, but it follows a very weak May and was not confirmed by strength in the household survey," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Traders kept a close eye on the nonfarm jobs report for more implications on the U.S. Federal Reserve's next rate hike in a post-Brexit environment.

Fed policymakers decided in June that it was prudent to wait for more data and the Brexit vote result before raising rates, according to the minutes of the Fed's June policy meeting released earlier this week.

New York Fed President William Dudley, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), said that the Fed could be patient on raising interest rates due to low inflation and uncertainties over prospects for the U.S. economy, including Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, sharply decreased 10.57 percent to end at 13.20 on Friday.

In other economic news, U.S. goods and services deficit was 41.1 billion U.S. dollars in May, up 3.8 billion dollars from a revised reading in April, the Commerce Department announced earlier this week.

The seasonally adjusted Markit Flash U.S. services PMI Business Activity Index registered 51.4 in June, slightly higher than market consensus of 51.3.

The U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 56.5 percent in June, 3.6 percentage points higher than the May reading of 52.9 percent, the Institute Supply Management reported. This represents continued growth in the non-manufacturing sector at a faster rate.

"The U.S. economy is not out of the woods yet, of course, but a resurgent service sector heading into Q3 should boost confidence that the economy can withstand current volatility," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial.

U.S. stocks rallied in the previous week as markets showed a sign of recovery across the globe after a record 3 trillion U.S. dollars in market capitalization was wiped off in the post-Brexit plunge. Enditem