US stocks hit record highs on jobs report

US stocks soared to new closing records Friday after a strong US jobs report revived confidence in the economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 142.38 (0.96 percent) to 14,973.96, after having breached the 15,000 mark earlier for the first time. The S&P 500 finished at 1,614.42, up 16.83 (1.05 percent), also setting a new record and crossing the 1,600 mark for the first time. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 3,378.63, up 38.01 (1.14 percent). The rise followed a US Labor Department report that showed the US economy added 165,000 jobs in April, well above market expectations. Upward revisions for the prior two months also showed 114,000 more jobs were added than initially estimated. "The reason the market is heading higher is because most people on Wall Street expect the fundamentals to improve as the year progresses," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's. Industrial companies were among the biggest gainers in the Dow, including Caterpillar (+3.2 percent), 3M (+1.7 percent) and Alcoa (+1.9 percent). Insurer AIG gained 5.7 percent after reporting earnings late Thursday of $1.34 per share, well above the 87 cents projected by analysts. Biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences gained 5.7 percent on increasing hopes about the company's innovative hepatitis C medication. Food giant Kraft jumped 5.1 percent after the company beat earnings expectations in its quarterly report and said it was on track to "deliver every element of our 2013 financial guidance." The company saw strong consumption growth in its Kraft Natural and Velveeta cheese brands. Online networking firm LinkedIn sank 12.9 percent despite reporting earnings that bested expectations. Wall Street was unhappy with its second-quarter revenue forecast of $342-$347 million, down from the $359 million projected by analysts. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.75 percent from 1.63 percent late Thursday, while the yield on the 30-year bond increased to 2.97 percent from 2.83 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.