By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The major averages ended the week at record highs Friday as a better-than-expected monthly jobs report and positive Covid-19 treatment news triggered a sea of green across Wall Street.  

It rose by 0.47% to close the day at 4,697.53. It was up 0.577% or 204 points, and reached an intraday high of 36,328.31. Ending at 15,971.59, the Nasdaq gained 0.2%.  Small caps: The, also set a new record for closeness. 

The U.S. economy created 531,000 jobs in October, above forecasts for a gain of 450,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.8%.

The average hourly wage rose by 4.9% from the previous year, and 0.4% from September. This is because wages are increasing and there’s intense competition for workers, especially in the hospitality and leisure sectors. From the September 0.6% increase, hourly wage growth was slower than in September.

However, the Federal Reserve is at risk of falling behind inflation curves due to the continued rise in wages. This could increase the possibility that the central bank will be required to raise rates earlier.

“People will feel that squeeze from rising prices and that will then translate into more pressure on the organizations to raise wages and now that’s coming through in the numbers,” Johan Grahn, Head of ETF Strategy at Allianz (DE:) told Investing.com in an interview on Thursday ahead of the jobs report. The Fed may underestimate the inflation impact of rising wages, which I believe is a concern.

Covid is being fought back Pfizer (NYSE) announced its Covid-19 experimental pill reduced the chance of death and hospitalization by almost 90%.  Pfizer saw a more than 10% increase in sales and plans to seek regulatory authorization for its drug as soon possible.

The positive vaccine news fueled the reopening trade – bullish bets on stocks tied to the progress of the economic reopening – and led to jump in consumer discretionary stocks amid rising travel and hospitality stocks.

Expedia (NASDAQ:) Grup Royal Caribbean The sector’s leading stocks were Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ) and Cruises (NYSE).

Stocks for stay at home, including Zoom Video Communications Peloton (NASDAQ) and Teladoc Health (NYSE: Health) were both affected by the bad news. The latter was already down after a weak quarterly report.

Communications services were boosted higher by 16% rise in Live Nation Entertainment’s (NYSE:), after an event promoter made a profit during the third quarter due to the increase in live events.

Energy stocks rebounded from weakness a day earlier as oil prices resumed their climb higher following OPEC and its allied producers’ decision to keep production steady despite US calls to ramp-up output.

Big tech added to gains from earlier this week, with Apple (NASDAQ:), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) in the green. Microsoft (NASDAQ) was the exception and ended just below the flatline. 

The House of Representatives in Washington is set to vote later on Friday on President Joe Biden’s $1.75 Trillion economic plan and separate Infrastructure bill.

The’s record highest index this week is perhaps the most prominent, reflecting the bullish sentiment of investors on risk assets.  

“In the last six months, you’ve seen the market rising, but with small caps and mid caps, largely not really participating,” Chief Market Strategist David Keller at StockCharts told Investing.com in an interview on Friday.

But there has been a change in last couple of weeks, where “small caps are actually emerging, and the Russell 2000 is breaking out of a six month base, showing that investors are optimistic and putting risk back on,” Keller added. “That tends to lead to higher prices.”