Dow rallies more than 700 points after shocking record surge in U.S. jobs

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied on Friday after the latest U.S. jobs report raised hope the economy is starting to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The 30-stock Dow jumped more than 700 points at the open, or 2.7%. The S&P 500 traded 2% higher,. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9%.

“We’re back,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on “Squawk Box.” “I think there were a lot of people who felt that the layoffs would be permanent and it’s obvious that there’s so much demand that people have to bring people back.”

Wall Street was already on pace for solid weekly gains. Entering Friday’s session, the Dow was up 3.5% week to date. The S&P 500 had gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.

U.S. employers added a shocking 2.5 million jobs last month while the unemployment rate slid to 13.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a drop of more than 8 million jobs and the unemployment rate to nearly reach 20%.