Stocks Ended Sharply Higher on Jobs Report

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher on Friday on the back of robust jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 250.86 points, or 1.40%, to 18,146.74. The S&P 500 rose 32.00 points, or 1.53%, to 2,129.90. The Nasdaq Composite rallied 79.95 points, or 1.64%, to 4,956.76.

Following a surprisingly weak employment report for May, the June jobs report astonished economists in the opposite direction. The US economy added 287,000 new payrolls in June, the biggest gains of the year. This report should give Federal Reserve officials more confidence about economic momentum, said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist for Standish Mellon Asset Management and a former economist for the Federal Open Market Committee.

Oil futures finished Friday narrowly higher after an upbeat U.S. jobs report, but crude suffered a weekly loss of more than 7% — its largest since early February. August West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 27 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $45.41 a barrel. September Brent crude added 36 cents, or 0.8%, to $46.76 a barrel.

Polycom and Mitel shares both soared amid the news that Polycom thwarted the three-month deal it had with the Canadian telecom firm, and agreed to be bought by Siris Capital Group.

Under private contract terms, Mozilla could make more than $1 billion by 2019 if it does not want to work with Yahoo’s (YHOO) buyer, Recode’s Kara Swisher said on CNBC.