Stocks: Investors cheer strong jobs report

Click the chart for more market data. By Ken Sweet, contributing writerMay 6, 2011: 12:43 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Stocks rallied Friday, as investors cheered the news that the U.S. economy added 244,000 jobs in April, which was much better than expected.

The unemployment rate ticked higher to 9% from 8.8%, but investors were clearly tuned into the top-line number.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 120 points, or 1.2%; the S&P 500 (SPX) rose 13 points, or 1%; and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) gained 35 points, or 1.3%.

Friday’s rally was broad, with 28 out of the 30 members of the Dow moving higher. The blue chips were led higher by shares of Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500), which were up 2.3%; and shares of Kraft Foods (KFT, Fortune 500), which rose 2.7%.

“This bounce back is certainly warranted,” said Anthony Conroy, head trader at BNY ConvergEx. “Everyone was looking for this economy to find some footing, and they found it in today’s jobs numbers.”

The Labor Department’s jobs report blew away most expectations. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney were forecasting employers added 185,000 jobs in the month, with the unemployment rate remaining at 8.8%.

Traders cheered the report in part because investor expectations had been low — particularly following Thursday’s dismal initial jobless claims data, and Wednesday’s mediocre ADP private-payrolls reports.

Stocks sold off Thursday, in large part because of the jobless claims numbers.

Friday also marks the one-year anniversary of Wall Street’s ‘flash crash’, which sent the Dow industrials plunging nearly 1,000 points in less than 20 minutes.

Commodities: Investors continued to focus on oil, gold, and silver prices, following big declines posted earlier this week.

Oil for June delivery rose 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $100.23 a barrel. Crude oil prices plunged 8.6% Thursday to close below $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-March.

Precious metals also showed some signs of life Friday, with gold advancing $7 to $1,488.40 an ounce. However, silver was down 2.5% to $35.36 an ounce.

After 44 straight increases, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline decreased 0.1 cent Friday, according to AAA. The average price is now $3.984 a gallon.

Companies: After the closing bell Thursday, insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) reported a loss from continuing operations of $1.41 per share for the first three months of the year, compared to a profit of $2.16 per share over the same period a year ago. Despite the weak earnings report, shares of AIG rose 2% in midday trading Friday.

Shares of Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) rose 1.5% ahead of the finalization of company’s reverse-stock split. Citi shareholders will get one new share for every 10 shares they currently own.

World markets: European stocks closed solidly higher, following the U.S. government’s monthly jobs report. Britain’s FTSE 100 ticked up 1%, the DAX in Germany added 1.6% and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.3%.

Asian markets ended the session lower. The Shanghai Composite shaved 0.3%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4% and Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 1.5%.

Currencies: The dollar gained strength against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell versus the British pound.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slid midday Friday, pushing the yield up to 3.2%.  

First Published: May 6, 2011: 9:46 AM ET