U.S. stocks sharply higher after jobs data; Dow Jones up 1%

Investing.com - U.S. stocks were sharply higher on Friday, after the release of mixed employment data dampened expectations for the Federal Reserve to scale back its bond-buying program.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.91%, while the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.75%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May, beating expectations for a 170,000 increase, after 149,000 jobs were created the previous month.

However, the report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6% last month, from 7.5% in April. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

Wal-Mart shares jumped 1.12% after the big-box retailer authorized a new USD15 billion share repurchase program.

Adding to gains, U.S.-traded shares of GlaxoSmithKline surged 1.25% after U.S. advisers said the firm's best-selling diabetes pill Avandia may have been overstated and restrictions on prescribing the drug should be eased.

On the downside, AT&T slid 0.48% after saying second-quarter TV, Internet and mobile-phone subscriber growth is improving compared with a year earlier. The company added however that the costs to lure customers is cutting into profits.

Tech stocks were also in focus, as a number of U.S. technology providers including Apple and Yahoo! said they don’t give the U.S. government direct access to their systems, responding to newspaper reports of a top-secret electronic surveillance program.

Apple shares were down 0.52% at the open of the U.S. trading session, while Yahoo! rallied 1.32%.

The Washington Post and the Guardian reported late Thursday that the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation access the central servers of nine U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs.

In the same sector, Intel dropped 0.91% after Piper Jaffray downgraded its rating on the chipmaker to "underweight" from "neutral," pointing to the decline in the company's core PC business.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply higher. The EURO STOXX 50 surged 1.43%, France’s CAC 40 rallied 1.29%, Germany's DAX gained 1.47%, while Britain's FTSE 100 jumped 1.13%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.05%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index retreated 0.85%.