Upbeat jobs report boosts stocks

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks rose for a third session Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq tallying a fourth week of gains, after another strong monthly jobs report illustrated the recovery continues.

“It’s very positive that we’ve had three up days in a row after our first triple-digit selloff (this year) on Tuesday. It takes the threat that (Tuesday) was the beginning of a correction phase off the table, perhaps,” said Hank Smith, chief investment officer at Haverford Investments.

“The economy, while still growing at a below-average rate, is still improving,” said Smith of February’s jobs data. “The revisions up the prior two months were a very important part of this jobs report,” he added.

The U.S. dollar gained, especially against the euro, while bond prices fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note used in determining the rate on mortgages and other consumer loans rising.

“The wild card here is the price of oil. If we have another spike upwards, that would have a much bigger impact on the consumer,” said Smith, who believes the recent escalation in gasoline prices had less of an impact on consumers who got a “real dividend from a mild winter, with heating bills dramatically down from where there were a year ago.”

Ahead of the opening bell, the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls climbed by 227,000 last month, more than expected. The agency also revised higher jobs growth for December and January.

“It’s another confirming data point that the healing process is well under way. I think it points to stronger gains ahead,” said Matthew Kaufler, portfolio manager at Federated Investors.

Friday marked the third anniversary of the bull market. The S&P 500 Index is up 102 percent since closing at 676.53 on March 9, 2009.

“I think we were overdone three years ago when we hit bottom. The markets tend to overshoot in both directions,” said Kaufler.