Dow Soars After Better-Than-Expected May US Jobs Report

American employers added more jobs in the previous month than anticipated. The May jobs report was slightly stronger than investors had expected, as the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 7.6 percent. U.S. stocks jumped in morning and mid-day trade after the better-than-forecast report. As of 1:15pm Eastern, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 169.87 points, or 1.13 percent, to 15,210.49; the S&P 500 rose 16.16 points, or 1.00 percent, to 1,638.72; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 37.03 points, or 1.08 percent, to 3,461.08.Revisions to March and April figures show that the economy added 12,000 fewer jobs than originally reported during those months. The labor force participation rate was little changed at 63.4 percent.Although the jobs number is an improvement over April, it does little to offer much incentive for the Federal Reserve to scale back its $85 billion a month in bond purchases. Markets have been volatile in the past two weeks on heightened speculation that the Fed could slow its purchases later this year.