U.S. markets: Wall Street gains on strong jobs data, Apr. 29 – May 3

An exceptional employment report for April helped lift U.S. stocks during the trading week to record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded above 15,000 for the first time before closing at 14,973.96, up 261 points, or nearly 2% for the week.

The broader S&P 500 Index advanced 32 points, or 2%, to close above 1,600 points at 1,614.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 99 points, or 3%, to 3,378.63.

The gains came after the U.S. Labor Department said that 165,000 jobs were added in April, driving down the jobless rate to a four-year low of 7.5%, from 7.6% in March.

It also noted 114,000 more jobs were created in February and March than previously estimated.

Compass Minerals topped the week’s value gainers, jumping US$5.52 per share to close at US$86.83, after touching a 52-week high of US$87.67 on May 3. The salt and specialty fertilizer producer reported a 16% boost in first-quarter profits of $46.4 million, or $1.38 per share, up from $39.9 million, or $1.19 per share a year ago.

But the year-earlier profit was affected by a 2011 tornado that damaged the company’s salt operations in Goderich, Ont.  Excluding the damage done to operations by the tornado, first-quarter earnings in 2012 were $49.5 million, or $1.48 per share, which is 6% higher than this year’s adjusted earnings of $1.38 per share.

On the negative side of the ledger, Allied Nevada Gold gave back US$1.43 per share to close at US$9.98 after it announced its first-quarter results, a new plan for the Hycroft mill in Nevada and a US$150.5-million bought-deal financing. Instead of building and operating a 130,000-ton-per-day mill in 2015, Allied is looking to start with a 75,000-ton-per-day mill in 2015, and gradually expand that to 130,000 daily tons. But it didn’t provide details on when the ramp-up should occur, or how much it would save the company.

Barrick Gold was the most actively traded stock, with 88.4 million shares traded. The miner sold US$3 billion of debt securities to repay about US$2 billion borrowed under its revolving-credit facility. It gained US$1.45 to end at US$20 per share.

U.S. most active issues

U.S. greatest percentage change

U.S. greatest value change