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Stocks Close Higher as Markets Ignore Disappointing Jobs Report

<p>Stocks rose for a second day as investors appeared to ignore the government's disappointing job creation numbers.</p>
/ Source: CNBC.com

Stocks rose for a second day on Friday, with the Dow gaining another 1 percent in a triple-digit rise, as investors decided the non-farm payrolls report wasn't so terrible after all.

"It was bad, but not that bad," said Marc Doss, regional chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank.

The government reported the creation of 113,000 jobs in January -- below the expected 185,000. Meanwhile, the jobless rate fell to 6.6 percent, better than the 6.7 percent forecast.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had its best day this year on Thursday, rose another 165 points, or 1 percent. The S&P 500 gained 23 points, or 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq rose 68 points, or 1.7 percent.

The payroll number is "even lower than the lowest estimate. Mitigating some of these negatives is the unemployment rate ticked a bit lower and the labor participation rate ticked up. Both of those are good things," said Chris Gaffney, senior market strategist at EverBank.

Treasury prices rose, with the yield on the 10-year note falling 2 basis points to 2.681 percent; the dollar declined against currency rivals.

Crude-oil futures for March delivery rose $2.04, or 2.1 percent to $99.88 a barrel. Gold for April delivery rose $5.70, or 0.5 percent, to $1,262.90 an ounce.