US Employers Keep Hiring, Greece Completes Bond Swap: Daily Markets Wrap

U.S. employers extended their hiring spree last month and Greece finalized its $234 billion bond swap. Investors' risk appetite jumped, sending global equities higher, cutting bond prices and boosting commodities.

Late in the day the International Swaps & Derivatives Association ruled that Greece's bond swap was in fact a default, triggering billions of dollars in CDS payments. That trimmed some of the day's equity gains and cut the value of the euro.

A look over the shoulder from Bloomberg: Today is the three-year anniversary of the bull market in U.S. stocks that followed the global financial crisis. The S&P 500 has rallied 103 percent from its 12-year low on March 9, 2009 and is still down about 12 percent from its 2007 record.

Stocks. All 10 S&P sectors gained, and the index booked its fourth straight weekly increase. For the week, the Dow fell 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent.

Bonds. Bonds fell for the third day in a row, and the yield on U.S. five-year notes hit a 2012 high. Prices would have fallen more but for the fact that next week the government will auction $66 billion of debt.

Currencies. The dollar surged more than 1 percent against the euro and hit a 10-month high against the yen, MarketWatch said.

Commodities. Crude oil closed above $107 and copper posted its largest one-day increase in nearly three weeks. Gold rose, settling on top of $1,700, a psychologically significant level that bodes well for next week's trading. Corn rose 1.5 percent, wheat gained 1.3 percent but soybean futures slipped 0.1 percent.