NEW YORK — U.S. stocks on Thursday started the second quarter on an upbeat note, with oil and other commodities rallying as economic reports from the U.S., Asia and Europe combined to lift hopes of a global recovery.
Stock markets were closed Friday in the U.S. and most of Europe for the Good Friday holiday before a key U.S. jobs report was released.
On Friday, the nation’s economy posted its largest job gain in three years for March, while the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.
The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts’ expectations of 190,000. The total included 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.
On Thursday investors cheered news of a drop in U.S. weekly jobless claims and an upbeat national manufacturing survey from the Institute of Supply Management.
After climbing to an intraday high of 10,956.30, its highest level since late September 2008, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 70.44 points, or 0.7 percent, to end at 10,927.07.
Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. rose 3.2 percent, fronting gains that extended to 24 of the Dow’s 30 components.
The S&P 500 index ended up 8.67 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,178.10. Gains in materials and energy shares led the advance on the broad index.
“1,180 on the S&P 500 seems to have been a technical hurdle over the last 10 days,” said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at Davidson Companies.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 4.62 points, or 0.2 percent, to end 2,402.58.
For the week, the Dow gained 0.7 percent, the S&P rose 1 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 0.3 percent, the indexes’ fifth straight week of gains.
Shares of Research in Motion weighed on technology shares for most of the session after the BlackBerry-maker’s profit, revenue and product shipment came in below expectations.
For every stock on the decline, nearly three were rising on the New York Stock Exchange.
Shares of Borders Group Inc. jumped nearly 48 percent after the bookstore chain said it had a new credit line.
