DOW - Posting Best Week in 2 Months

Dow

12,092.15

+29.89

+0.25%

By: Abby Schultz

Stocks extended gains in the last minutes of trading to end the week on a high note, posting the best week in two months, as traders shrugged off a tepid jobs report to keep the major indices above key benchmarks reached earlier this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29.89 points Friday to close at 12,092.15, another 2 1/2-year high. For the week, the Dow rose 268.45 or 2.27 percent, the best weekly gain for the Dow since the week ended Dec. 03, 2010.

The S&P 500 rose 3.77 points to close at 1,310.87. For the week, the broad market index gained 34.53 points or 2.71 percent, also the best weekly gain since the week ended Dec. 3, 2010.


The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 15.42 points to close at 2,769.30. For the week, the Nasdaq rose 82.41 points or 3.07 percent.


The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell below 16.

Among key S&P 500 sectors, technology, consumer discretionary and consumer staples gained.

Oil prices fell as the dollar gained and on an unfounded report that the Egyptian government would be making an announcement regarding Mubarak's future. U.S. light crude fell to $89.03 a barrel and Brent crude fell to $99.83 a barrel.

Early on Friday, the government reported a slight 36,000 gain in January nonfarm payrolls and at the same time, a drop in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent to 9 percent.

While the market traded in a narrow range much of the day, prices started to move higher in the afternoon.

Investors realized the "economy is stronger, profits are better, and earnings season is good, with a lot of companies meeting or beating expectations," said Benny Lorenzo, chairman and CEO at Kaufman Brothers.

"That thinking started to take more of a dominant position," Lorenzo said