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As trading resumes following the long holiday weekend, stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets<\/span>, with the Dow futures up by 254 points.<\/p>\n The upward momentum on Wall Street comes as traders finally have an opportunity to react to the monthly jobs report, which was released while the markets were closed on Friday.<\/p>\n The closely watched report from the Labor Department showed employment in the U.S. spiked by much more than expected in the month of March.<\/p>\n The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 916,000 jobs in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 468,000 jobs in February.<\/p>\n Economists had expected employment to jump by 647,000 jobs compared to the addition of 379,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n The bigger than expected increase in employment reflected widespread job growth, with employment in the leisure and hospitality sector once again leading the way.<\/p>\n The stronger than expected job growth resulted in a continued decrease by the unemployment rate, which fell to 6.0 percent in March from 6.2 percent in February. The drop matched expectations.<\/p>\n With the decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since hitting 4.4 percent in March of 2020, when coronavirus<\/span> lockdowns were just starting to take effect.<\/p>\n Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply is scheduled to release its report on activity in the service sector in the month of March. <\/p>\n The ISM’s Services PMI is expected to rise to 58.5 in March from 55.3 in February, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector.<\/p>\n The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on new orders for manufactured goods in the month of February. Factory orders are expected to decrease by 0.5 percent.<\/p>\n Stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Thursday, with technology<\/span> stocks helping to lead the way higher once again. With the upward move, the S&P 500 ended the session at a new record closing high above 4,000.<\/p>\n The major averages all closed firmly positive, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly strong gain. The Nasdaq soared 233.24 points or 1.8 percent to 13,480.11, while the S&P 500 jumped 46.98 points or 1.2 percent to 4,019.87 and the Dow climbed 171.66 points or 0.5 percent to 33,153.21.<\/p>\n For the holiday-shortened week, the Nasdaq spiked by 2.6 percent, the S&P 500 surged up by 1.1 percent and the Dow edged up by 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n In overseas trading, many stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region were closed on Monday, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and South Korea’s Kospi rose by 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the major European markets are closed on the day in observance of Easter Monday.<\/p>\n In commodities trading, crude oil futures are tumbling $1.16 to $60.29 a barrel after spiking $2.29 to $61.45 a barrel last Thursday. Meanwhile, after climbing $12.80 to $1,728.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2 to $1,730.40 an ounce.<\/p>\n On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 110.45 yen versus the 110.69 yen it fetched last Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1776 compared to Friday’s $1.1759. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n