Nasdaq Leads Market Rally as Job Openings Rebound and Tech Stocks Surge

U.S. markets climb on strong gains in tech and oil services; April job openings surprise to the upside; global indices show mixed results.

The Nasdaq advanced 156.34 points (0.8%) to 19,398.96, the S&P 500 climbed 34.43 points (0.6%) to 5,970.37 and the Dow rose 214.16 points (0.5%) to 42,519.64.

Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected increase by job openings in the U.S. in the month of April. It said the job openings climbed to 7.39 million in April from an upwardly revised 7.20 million in March. The unexpected rebound by job openings partly reflected increases in job openings in the arts, entertainment, and recreation and mining and logging sectors.

Oil service stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day as the price of crude oil extended Monday's surge amid ongoing supply concerns, resulting in a 4.2% spike by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. Semiconductor stocks was substantially strong , as reflected by the 2.7% jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Computer hardware and networking stocks saw considerable strength, contributing to the advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq while housing and banking stocks also moved notably higher.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.4%. The major European markets all moved to upside. The German DAX Index advanced by 0.7%, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2%.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after an early advance, closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 4.46% after hitting a low of 4.40%.

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