Roundup: U.S. stocks surge despite disappointing jobs data

U.S. stocks reversed deep losses to end sharply higher Friday, as investors believed that the possibility for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year becomes lower after a poor nonfarm payroll report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 200.36 points, or 1.23 percent, to 16,472.37. The S&P 500 gained 27.54 points, or 1.43 percent, to 1,951.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index leapt 80.69 points, or 1.74 percent, to 4,707.77.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in September, well below market consensus of 203,000, the Labor Department announced Friday. Thus far in 2015, job growth has averaged 198,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 260,000 in 2014.

In September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 1 cent to 25.09 U.S. dollars, also missing estimates.

The unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent in September. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down 0.8 percentage point and 1.3 million, respectively.

Some analysts thought that a soft jobs report could give the Federal Reserve some reason to postpone rate hikes.

"Slower job growth, falling participation and stagnant wage growth are hardly a recipe for rate hikes, despite Williams' attempt to lower the jobs bar yesterday," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

On Thursday, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams renewed his call for an interest-rate hike "sometime later this year," citing near-full employment and rapidly rising house prices that may be a sign of excessive economic optimism.

Meanwhile, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in August decreased 8.2 billion dollars, or 1.7 percent, to 473.0 billion dollars, below market expectations of a 1.3-percent decline, said the Commerce Department Friday.

Boosted by rebounding oil prices, the energy sector surged 4.01 percent on Friday, leading the advancers among the S&P 500's ten sectors.

Oil prices advanced Friday as data signaled that U.S. crude output is contracting.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved up 80 cents to settle at 45.54 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery increased 44 cents to close at 48.13 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 rose 1.0 percent, while the Nasdaq moved up 0.5 percent.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell 7.14 percent to end at 20.94 Friday.

In other markets, the U.S. dollar lost against other currencies Friday as jobs data of the country came out worse than expected.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1225 dollars from 1.1185 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 119.88 Japanese yen, lower than 119.92 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rebounded strongly on Friday, snapping its five-session losing streak, as the disappointing jobs report weighed on the dollar.

The most active gold contract for December delivery surged 22.9 dollars, or 2.06 percent, to settle at 1,136.6 dollars per ounce. Endit