STOCK MARKET TODAY: U.S. Stocks Rise as Fiery Jobs Report Highlights Strength of Economy

• On Friday, U.S. stocks rose after the release of a strong March jobs report.

• The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs last month, far exceeding economists' expectations.

• Investors are watching to see if the strong jobs report will delay the Fed's pace of rate cuts.

U.S. stocks climbed on Friday as investors reacted to a strong March jobs report and considered whether the economy's resumption of growth would delay the Federal Reserve's plan to cut interest rates.

The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs in March, much higher than the 212,000 jobs economists had predicted. The report helped lower the unemployment rate from 3.9% to 3.8%.

Last month's hiring was concentrated in the leisure and hospitality, government and healthcare sectors.

"The sharp increase of 303,000 in non-employment in March supports the Fed's position that the resilience of the economy means it can take its time in cutting rates," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

This coincides with comments from Fed chief matron Neel Kashkari, who said yesterday that there may be no reason to cut rates at all this year.

"If we're running very attractive interest rates, people are working, businesses are doing well, inflation is coming down, why do anything else?" said Kashkari. Kashkari said.

Here's what the U.S. stock indexes are doing shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Friday:

• Standard & Poor's 500indices::5167.33 points, up 0.4%.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average38,699.13 points, up 0.3% (102 points)

• Nasdaq Resonanceindices16,109.77, up 0.4 percent

What else happened today?

• A string of layoffs in Apple's research and development department suggests that chief executive Tim Cook is trying to refocus the company after the failure of its electric car project.

• Bitcoin's peak will signal a turbulent six months for the stock market, according to a Wall Street strategist.

• Earlier this week, the U.S. government transferred 2,000 Bitcoins from its $2 billion cryptocurrency wallet, Coinbase.

In commodities, bonds and crypto-currency side noodles:

• West Texas Kerosene Intermediate crude oil rose 0.52% to $87.04 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.66% to $91.25 per barrel.

• Gold jumped 0.40% to $2,315.90 an ounce.

• The 10-year Treasury yield rose 6 basis points to 4.38%.

• Bitcoin fell 2.25% to $66,979.

Read the original article on Business Insider