Strong jobs report help Wall Street end week on record

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

Indexes on Wall Street closed Friday at record levels after a strong jobs report and a recovery in crude oil prices.

The Dow rose 55 points to finish at 21,006.

The S&P was up nine points to 2,399 as the Nasdaq added 25 points to 6,100 -- each reaching all-time marks.

The Dow gained 0.3 percent for the week, the S&P jumped 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq soared 0.9 percent.

The U.S. added 211,000 jobs in April, the government said Friday. That beat analysts’ expectations of 185,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent in April, hitting its lowest level since May 2007.

After falling 4.9 percent Thursday to their lowest level in five months, crude prices recovered around 2 percent Friday.

At the final bell, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $46.36 -- a 1.9 percent gain. International benchmark Brent crude was up 2 percent to $49.28.