US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow hit record highs as weak jobs data eases rate worries

* Mega-cap stocks jump; energy and materials leading S&P
* U.S. job growth far below expectations in April
* Indexes up: Dow 0.49%, S&P 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.64%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Krystal Hu and Shreyashi Sanyal
May 7 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow hit record highs
on Friday, while the Nasdaq recovered along with heavily
weighted growth stocks as U.S. jobs data eased concerns over
prospects for rising rates.
U.S. job growth unexpectedly slowed in April, likely
restrained by shortages of workers, the Labor Department report
showed. The report alleviated some concerns about rising inflation
and potentially higher U.S. interest rates, which some investors
worry would hurt growth companies with high valuations.
"The anticipation and confirmation of (Federal Reserve)
policy staying the same and continued economic recovery with
vaccines rollout have fueled these all-time highs, but we do
believe the volatility is going to be tightened in the short
term," said Greg Bassuk, chief executive at Axs Investments.
Heavily-weighted growth stocks such as Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O and Alphabet GOOGL.O all rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 168.97 points,
or 0.49%, to 34,717.5 and the S&P 500 .SPX gained 24.47
points, or 0.58%, to 4,226.09. Both were on track for their best
week since March.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 87.49 points, or 0.64%,
to 13,720.33, but was still set for a weekly decline.
Payments firm Square Inc SQ.N rose 3.7% after reporting a
better-than-expected quarterly profit, as surging demand for
bitcoin fueled a jump in cryptocurrency transactions on its
application. Streaming device maker Roku Inc ROKU.O jumped 11.4%
following upbeat revenue outlook, while fitness equipment maker
Peloton Interactive PTON.O gained 6.1% as it laid out steps to
improve the safety of the equipment. Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O shares rose 6.8% as analysts
raised price target on hopes that it would continue to benefit
from the recovery in the travel industry.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.98-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 147 new 52-week highs and one new low;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 132 new highs and 48 new lows.