A stronger-than-expected May employment report - and one that President Trump pre-empted on Twitter a little over an hour before the report's release - helped lift US equity markets - Dow up +219-points or +0.90%, with Goldman Sachs (up +1.09%), J.P. Morgan Chase (+1.30%), Morgan Stanley (+2.13%) and Bank of America (+1.24%). The broader S&P500 +1.08%, with financials (up +1.1%) and technology (+1.9%) the leading sector performers. The technology-centric NASDAQ +1.51%, with all of Facebook Inc (up +1.2% to US$193.99), Apple Inc (+1.8% to US$190.24), Amazon.com (+0.73% at US$1,641.54) and Netflix Inc (+2.37% to US$359.93) settling at record closing highs. Apple's annual worldwide developers conference gets under way in San Jose on tonight AEST. President Trump confirmed that a 12 June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going ahead as planned in Singapore as he prepares to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday (7 May). Elsewhere, President Trump directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to prepare immediate steps to to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, calling it a matter of national and economic security. The news lifted coal producers including Peabody Energy Corp (up m+4.8%) and Arch Coal Inc (+2%). For the week, the Dow and S&P500 lost -0.5%, while the Nasdaq gained +1.6% (and is ~1% away from its record intra-day high struck back on 13 May).
