U.S. employers added 115,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department reported, handily beating the 65,000-job consensus forecast and keeping the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.3%. The gain, while decelerating from March’s 185,000, was nearly double what economists had penciled in and helped push the S&P 500 toward an all‑time high as investors interpreted the report as evidence the economy can weather the Iran war without a sharp contraction.
Hiring was broad but uneven. Healthcare added 37,000 positions and retailers 22,000, the department’s survey of establishments showed. Manufacturing, however, cut 2,000 jobs last month and has shed 66,000 factory jobs over the past year despite the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policies designed to rebuild American manufacturing.
Average long‑term U.S. mortgage rates rose for a second straight week, reflecting bond‑market anxiety that surging oil prices tied to the war will feed broader inflation. The benchmark 30‑year fixed‑rate mortgage averaged 6.37%, up from 6.30% the previous week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That is still down from 6.76% a year ago.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs — rose by 10,000 to 200,000 in the week ending May 2, the Labor Department reported separately. The figure remained below the 205,000 forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet and is near levels last seen in the late 1960s, suggesting employers are reluctant to let workers go even as inflation and war uncertainty persist.
Job openings were essentially flat in March at 6.87 million, down slightly from 6.92 million in February, according to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Layoffs rose during the month, but hiring recovered: employers added 5.55 million gross jobs, the most since February 2024, and the number of workers who quit their jobs increased, a sign that Americans are confident enough to leave one position for another.
U.S. stocks rose toward records to end the week, spurred by the jobs report and hopes that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to resume deliveries from the Persian Gulf, potentially relieving some of the price pressures that have squeezed consumers and businesses since the war began on Feb. 28.