New York - QNA
US stocks rose Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index setting a new closing record, as Wall Street cheered over the country's better-than-expected jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 186.55 points, or 0.94%, to 20,071.46.
The S&P 500 added 16.57 points, or 0.73%, to 2,297.42.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 30.57 points, or 0.54%, to 5,666.77.
US total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 227,000 in January, well above market consensus of 175,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate was little changed at 4.8%.
In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to $26.00, following a 6-cent increase in December. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5%.
Meanwhile, the Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the US service sector, registered 56.5% in January, missing market expectations of 57.0, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said in its monthly survey Friday.
For the week, the blue-chip Dow edged down 0.1%, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.