Nasdaq hits record high as U.S. economy shows signs of rebound

(Reuters) - The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> on Friday became the first of the three major U.S. stock indexes to bounce back to a record high, recovering from a stunning coronavirus-led slump on growing hopes of a swift economic rebound.

Wall Street has surged following a crash into bear territory in March as investors bet on a revival in business activity with the easing of a nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus.

Data on Friday showed a surprise rise in U.S. jobs in May, offering the clearest signal yet the downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic was probably over, although the road to recovery could still be long.

The benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX> is now less than 1% down on the year after crashing more than 32% from that level by late March, and is about 6% below its record high. The blue-chip Dow Jones index <.DJI> is about 8% below its own all-time high.

The smaller Nasdaq 100 index <.NDX> hit a record high on Thursday, partly powered by tech-related names including Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, Netflix Inc <NFLX.O>, Alphabet Inc <GOOGL.O> and Apple Inc <AAPL.O>.

Closing at a record high, according to a widely accepted definition, would confirm that the Nasdaq Composite has been in a new bull market since its pandemic low on March 23.

(Reporting by the Reuters markets team; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)