JAKARTA – The three major US indices—Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq—closed higher at the end of the first week of June, after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the unemployment rate in May 2025 held steady at 4.2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05% on Friday, 6 June 2025, closing at 42,762.87, up 13.59% from its low on 8 April 2025.

The S&P 500 also jumped 20.42% from its 8 April 2025 low, gaining 1.03% to close at 6,000.36 on Friday (6/6).

The Nasdaq soared 27.92% from its 8 April 2025 trough, closing 1.3% higher on Friday (6/6) at 19,529.95.

On the other hand, despite the steady unemployment rate, job growth slightly weakened.

According to BLS data, while the US economy added 139,000 jobs in May, this was down from 147,000 recorded in April 2025.

This figure differs sharply from the report by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), which showed that US private sector job growth in May 2025 increased by only 37,000—the lowest since March 2023.

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, explained that this decline was due to uncertainty surrounding the US economic outlook and the Trump tariff controversy.

“Many firms are holding back and reluctant to hire amid growing uncertainty over how tariff policy might affect economic growth,” Kathy said, as quoted by USA Today.

Still, the relatively stable labour market data may prompt the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to hold off on cutting interest rates at the upcoming June FOMC meeting, according to analysts at Capital Economics, as reported by NBC News.

This stands in contrast to what President Trump has consistently demanded from the Fed and Jerome Powell—namely lower interest rates—as reported by IDNFinancials.com. (ZH)