Stocks Surge on Friday, End Week Higher

U.S. stocks surged on Friday, finishing the week with modest gains as investors set aside any fear of economic softness in a weak U.S. jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165.55 points, or 1.06% to 15,794.08. The blue-chip index gained 0.6% over the past week. The S&P 500 closed up 23.59 points, or 1.33% at 1,797.02 and recorded a 0.8% weekly gain. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day 68.74 points, or 1.69%, higher at 4,125.86, gaining 0.5% for the week.

Non-farm payrolls rose by 113,000, well below the consensus of 185,000, although the
unemployment rate hit a five-year low of 6.6 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said.

LinkedIn (LNKD) reported decelerating fourth-quarter gains and gave Q1 and full-year 2014 sales guidance that was well below Wall Street estimates. The social networking site for professionals reported earnings per share, minus items, of 39 cents, a penny above estimates. That was up 11% from the year-ago quarter, but marked its slowest growth in 10 quarters.

Expedia Inc. (EXPE) reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 92 cents a share, beating expectations.