Wall Street closes higher with strong jobs report

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street closed higher Friday as the nation’s jobless report beat market expectations.

The Dow Jones rose 250 points to end the day at 18,146 points and the S&P 500 was up 31 points to close at 2,129. The Nasdaq gained 79 points to finish the day at 4,956.

At one point the S&P 500 reached 2,131, an all-time highest level for the index.

Meanwhile, the Dow closed above the critical threshold of 18,000 for the first time in two weeks.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq recorded a gain of 1.9 percent.

The U.S. added 287,000 jobs in June, marking the highest monthly jump since October, according to the Labor Department. Analysts expected 180,000 new jobs.

Although oil prices were slightly up at the closing bell, they lost around 7 percent for the week.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded at $45.25 a barrel -- a 0.2 percent increase at the close of the day, and international benchmark Brent crude was at $46.65 per barrel -- a 0.4 percent gain.