WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After trending lower over the past several sessions, stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Friday. The markets benefited from a positive reaction to much better than expected employment data.
Continuing to recover from a recent sell-off, airline stocks showed a particularly strong move to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index surged up by 3.1 percent, climbing further off Wednesday's five-month closing low.
Brazilian airline GOL (GOL) and American Airlines (AAL) turned in two of the sector's best performances, jumping by 6.6 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively.
Railroad stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, driving the Dow Jones Railroads Index up by 2.7 percent. Union Pacific (UNP) and Kansas City Southern (KSU) posted standout gains.
Significant strength was also visible among healthcare stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Health Care Index. The index rebounded after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in well over a month.
Most of the other major sectors also moved to the upside, with notable strength visible among banking, biotechnology, and internet stocks.
On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 4.5 percent. The weakness in the sector came as gold for December delivery tumbled $22.20 to $1,192.90 an ounce.
The major averages held on to strong gains going into the close, ending the day firmly positive. The Dow soared 208.64 points or 1.2 percent to 17,009.69, the Nasdaq jumped 45.43 point or 1 percent to 4,475.62 and the S&P 500 surged up 21.73 points or 1.1 percent to 1,967.90.
Despite the rally on the day, the major averages all moved lower for the week. The Dow fell by 0.6 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both dropped by 0.8 percent.
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