US stocks soared Friday as investors shook off grim jobless data to focus on the government's new financial sector rescue plan, due to be announced next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 217.52 points (2.70 percent) to finish at 8,280.59, capping a strong weekly gain for the indexes.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 45.47 points (2.94 percent) to 1,591.71 and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 22.75 points (2.69 percent) to 868.60.
Investors cheered in anticipation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement due Monday of a new stabilization plan for the battered finance sector.
"In the US, all eyes will be on the treasury secretary, as Monday will see details on a two-pronged plan to buttress the banking system and slow the pace of mortgage foreclosures," said Avery Shenfield at CIBC World Markets.
"While the banking plan is unlikely to leave anything more than crumbs for shareholders of institutions needing the greatest relief, it's a key step in restoring confidence for their credits and lending capacity for the economy."
Meanwhile, a massive stimulus plan urgently sought by President Barack Obama remained bogged down in the Senate.
On the sidelines, a group of moderate Democrats and Republicans held private talks to examine ways to build Republican support by paring back the nearly 940-billion-dollar bill.
The market, which had opened modestly higher, built momentum into a powerful rally amid a high volume of trades.
Before the market open, the Labor Department reported nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January, by 598,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate shot up to 7.6 percent, from 7.2 percent in December.
The number of job losses was the worst since 1974 and the unemployment rate was the highest since September 1992. The economy has shed 3.6 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007, with around one-half of the decline in the past three months, the report said.
"The resilience after undeniably bad employment news can be attributed to the understanding that the reported numbers were not too far off the mark from the consensus estimates, so the surprise factor was minimized," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said that the jobs report "seems to be promoting optimism the gloomy data will prompt the quick passing of a plan to provide relief to the struggling financial industry."
Financials led the gainers, with the Bank of America leaping 26.65 percent to 6.13 dollars. Citigroup gained 10.76 percent at 3.91, JPMorgan Chase added 12.59 percent at 27.63 and Wells Fargo rose 17.64 percent to 19.14.
But insurance giant Hartford Financial plunged 15.97 percent to 12.68 after it posted a quarterly loss, cut its dividend and issued earnings guidance below market expectations.
Among the Dow's 30 blue chips, only General Motors ended in the red, down 0.70 percent at 2.84.
News Corp. climbed 1.74 percent to 7.58 after Rupert Murdoch's media empire reported a huge quarterly loss and announced cost-cutting measures late Thursday.
Bonds fell back. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.979 percent from 2.900 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond advanced to 3.683 percent from 3.634 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 217.52 points (2.70 percent) to finish at 8,280.59, capping a strong weekly gain for the indexes.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 45.47 points (2.94 percent) to 1,591.71 and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 22.75 points (2.69 percent) to 868.60.
Investors cheered in anticipation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement due Monday of a new stabilization plan for the battered finance sector.
"In the US, all eyes will be on the treasury secretary, as Monday will see details on a two-pronged plan to buttress the banking system and slow the pace of mortgage foreclosures," said Avery Shenfield at CIBC World Markets.
"While the banking plan is unlikely to leave anything more than crumbs for shareholders of institutions needing the greatest relief, it's a key step in restoring confidence for their credits and lending capacity for the economy."
Meanwhile, a massive stimulus plan urgently sought by President Barack Obama remained bogged down in the Senate.
On the sidelines, a group of moderate Democrats and Republicans held private talks to examine ways to build Republican support by paring back the nearly 940-billion-dollar bill.
The market, which had opened modestly higher, built momentum into a powerful rally amid a high volume of trades.
Before the market open, the Labor Department reported nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January, by 598,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate shot up to 7.6 percent, from 7.2 percent in December.
The number of job losses was the worst since 1974 and the unemployment rate was the highest since September 1992. The economy has shed 3.6 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007, with around one-half of the decline in the past three months, the report said.
"The resilience after undeniably bad employment news can be attributed to the understanding that the reported numbers were not too far off the mark from the consensus estimates, so the surprise factor was minimized," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said that the jobs report "seems to be promoting optimism the gloomy data will prompt the quick passing of a plan to provide relief to the struggling financial industry."
Financials led the gainers, with the Bank of America leaping 26.65 percent to 6.13 dollars. Citigroup gained 10.76 percent at 3.91, JPMorgan Chase added 12.59 percent at 27.63 and Wells Fargo rose 17.64 percent to 19.14.
But insurance giant Hartford Financial plunged 15.97 percent to 12.68 after it posted a quarterly loss, cut its dividend and issued earnings guidance below market expectations.
Among the Dow's 30 blue chips, only General Motors ended in the red, down 0.70 percent at 2.84.
News Corp. climbed 1.74 percent to 7.58 after Rupert Murdoch's media empire reported a huge quarterly loss and announced cost-cutting measures late Thursday.
Bonds fell back. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.979 percent from 2.900 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond advanced to 3.683 percent from 3.634 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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