Wall Street capped off a big week of gains with a triple-digit rally on Friday as the bulls cheered a better-than-expected monthly jobs report by pushing the Dow to a fresh six-week high and the S&P 500 to a six-day win streak.
Today's Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122.06 points, or 1.17%, to 10566.20, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 15.73 points, or 1.40%, to 1138.70 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 34.04 points, or 1.48%, to 2326.35. The FOX 50 added 9.89 points, or 1.22%, to 818.59.
After a week of suspense, Wall Street finally got a look at how the jobs market fared during February and the bulls liked what they saw: the unemployment rate unexpectedly held steady at 9.7% and fewer jobs were cut than analysts had predicted. The markets received further signs the U.S. economy is healing when the Federal Reserve surprised economists by saying consumer credit rose in January for the first time in a year.
Friday's strong rally pushed the blue chips up more than 240 points on the week and landed the S&P 500 in the green for the sixth-straight day. However, like most of the rallies this year, Friday's gains came without a significant up tick in volume, indicating a possible lack of conviction.
“What’s clearly missing from all this is the volume,” NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “I think the overall direction of the market is higher but there aren’t a lot of believers out there.”
The Dow, which ended at its highest level since Jan. 20, was led by Boeing (BA) and American Express (AXP). The index's only decliners were Verizon (VZ) and Microsoft (MSFT), each of which fell just slightly.
Led by tech standout Apple (AAPL), the Nasdaq Composite enjoyed even stronger gains than the broader markets, capping off its best week since early October.
All eyes Friday morning were on the Labor Department's jobs report, which revealed the U.S. lost 36,000 jobs in February, beating estimates for a drop of 50,000 jobs. The government also said the unemployment rate stayed at 9.7%, topping expectations for the rate to rise 0.1 percentage points to 9.8%.
Analysts at the Labor Department said it's unclear how February's snow storms impacted those figures. Some market watchers expected the markets to rise no matter what the data showed because the bulls could blame heavy job losses on the bad weather.
“The bulls had a weather-related free pass today but the data still shows a very difficult, albeit slowly improving labor market,” Peter Boockvar, equity market strategist at Miller Tabak, wrote in a note.
While the markets cheered the data, it's clear the labor markets continue to lag behind the rest of the economy in recovering from the Great Recession.
Stocks hit session highs late on Friday after the Federal Reserve said consumer credit jumped by $4.96 billion in January, breaking a record string of 11 monthly declines. Analysts had projected credit would decline by $4.5 billion. The data showed auto lending drove the increase, boosting shares of Toyota (TM) and Ford (F).
Energy stocks provided the markets with a jolt as stocks like Transocean (RIG) and XTO Energy (XTO) rallied around higher commodity prices. Crude oil gained $1.29 a barrel, or 1.61%, to $81.50 -- its highest level since Jan. 11. Gold rose $2.10 a troy ounce, or 0.19%, to $1135.20.
Corporate Movers
Apple (AAPL) said its iPad tablet device will be available in the U.S. on April starting at $499. The tech giant said the 3G Wi-Fi version of the highly-anticipated device can be pre-ordered for pickup from an Apple retail store. The iPad will be available overseas in several countries in late April.
General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt declined to take a bonus in 2009 but did rake in $9.9 million in total compensation. A year earlier Immelt made $9.3 billion.
Global Markets
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 1.31% to 5599.76, Germany's DAX gained 1.42% to 5877.36 and France's CAC 40 advanced 2.14% to 3910.42.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 soared 2.20% to 10368.96, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.03% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.24% to 3031.06.
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