The US unemployment rate dropped to 6.1 per cent last month, bolstering hopes that the world’s largest economy is gaining momentum and stoking belief among investors that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than expected.
US equities hit new highs after the report revealed that employers added 288,000 jobs in June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through 17,000 points for the first time as investors abandoned concerns about an economic contraction in the first quarter.
Bond market yields also rose as traders and economists forecast that the Fed would be pushed to make an early move in 2015 to increase interest rates from the near-zero level at which they have been stuck since the recession.