US markets rose on Tuesday after glowing jobs report

Investors received good news on Tuesday as markets rallied after several days in the red. According to a report from The Street, investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley led the rise after both firms posted earnings which were higher than predicted.

In total, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by almost two percent, and the NASDAQ by nearly three. The S&P 500 rose by over two percent as well. According to Market Watch, these are the most significant gains any of the markets have seen since March of this year.

Many experts believe the boost was powered by the latest US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. According to an article published by the Financial Times, there is now a high number of open positions — 7.136 million — which vastly surpassed the projected number of six million and is equivalent to the record-breaking number seen earlier this year.

“This reading extends a remarkable run, which has taken the rate of increase of job openings from just 3.3% at the end of last year to 18.0% in August, with no real sign of a peak in sight,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics economist Ian Shepherdson, while speaking to the Financial Times. “That’s consistent with other private sector surveys, most of which point to labour demand rising much faster than any plausible estimate of supply.”

The report also showed that the number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs rose as well.

“The fact that record numbers of workers are voluntarily quitting their jobs suggests that they are finding substantially better opportunities elsewhere in the economy,” said ZipRecruiter’s labor economist Julia Pollak, while speaking to CNBC.

While the jobs report certainly played a significant factor it Tuesday’s market performance, other forces were at work to push stock prices up as well. According to a report from The Guardian, industrial production was also up, as is investor confidence in traditional markets. Many investors were feeling optimistic after an announcement from The US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, which told congress that the US intends to hold trade talks with “the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan,” according to a report from Reuters.

“We will continue to expand U.S. trade and investment by negotiating trade agreements with Japan, the EU and the United Kingdom,” said Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative in a statement. “We are committed to concluding these negotiations with timely and substantive results for American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses.”

It wasn’t just US markets that were in the green, however. According to The Guardian, markets across Europe rose as well. Most notably is Italy, which rose by more than two percent.