U.S. stocks rose, erasing a weekly loss for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, after growth in employment topped economists' forecasts.

Boeing Co., Walt Disney Co. and American Express Co. added more than 1.9 percent, pacinggains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) as a gauge of cyclical stocks rallied. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. added 0.8 percent after approving a new buyback program. Gap Inc. rose 2.3 percent after reporting same-store sales for May that beat analyst estimates. Iron Mountain Inc. tumbled 16 percent after saying its conversion to a real estate investment trust is being scrutinized by tax regulators.

Federal Reserve stimulus and better-than-expected earnings have propelled the bull market in U.S. equities into a fifth year and driven the S&P 500 up 142 percent from a 12-year low in 2009. The index has dropped 1.8 percent since closing at a record high on May 21, the day before Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke suggested the central bank could curtail its $85 billion monthly bond purchases if the job market improved in a "real and sustainable way."

David Fuller's view While this is only one of many economic reports which inevitably vary somewhat, it is firmly in the good news category, supporting other evidence that the US economy is slowly recovering.

However, good news for the economy will eventually be bad news for the stock market as it will persuade the Fed to reduce and eventually eliminate quantitative easing (QE). Nevertheless, Mr Bernanke and his probable successor Janet Yellen appear to be in no hurry to end their monetary experiment. Moreover, comments to do so might well be opposed by Wall Street - shades of attacks on Alan Greenspan following his 'irrational exuberance remarks in 1996.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index is still somewhat overextended relative to its 200-day MA, but there is no evidence that this maturing bull market is over. A number of the Autonomies covered by Eoin recently have bounced from their moving averages in the last two days.