Stocks Rally on April Job Growth

(TheStreet) -- Stocks climbed Friday after surprising April job growth data helped alleviate anxiety over the impact of soaring commodity prices on the economic recovery. The Dow was up by 100 points, or 0.8%, at 12,684. The S&P 500 was higher by 10 points, or 0.8%, at 1345, and the Nasdaq was ahead by 27 points, or 1%, at 2842. The economy added 244,000 jobs in April, according to the Labor Department's report, which far exceeded the job growth of 185,000 that the market had been expecting. Companies added 268,000 payrolls in April - the highest additions to private-sector payrolls since early 2006 - and well above the increase of 200,000 that economists had expected. April's figures compare to job growth of 221,000 in March and private sector job growth of 231,000. The unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 9%. Wall Street had expected the level to remain unchanged at 8.8%. Continue reading the article.