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A better than expected jobs report helped stocks to a fast start on Friday, and they hung on to close near the highs of the day with moderate gains in the broader indices. The Dow lagged a bit as its big winners on Thursday pulled back on Friday. It closed with a gain of 40-points, or 0.15%, while small caps led the way with a solid 0.82% gain.

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The beginning of the new quarter paralleled optimistic headlines and favorable economic data setting up buyers to continue their control of the stock market. Manufacturing activity in China perked up in March according to reports after coming off a three year low in February. This sparked investors' interest who previously were concerned that trade disputes between the U.S. and China were dragging down global production; the report discredited these worries. Buyers were provoked again Wednesday ...

Hiring speeds up as U.S. economy adds 196,000 jobs in March

Growth in hourly pay slows a bit after reaching a 10-year high

The numbers: The U.S. created 196,000 new jobs last month after a swoon in February, an encouraging gain that hints growth in the economy is ready for a revival.

Hiring increased in most major segments of the economy, most notably health care and white-collar firms. The flush of new jobs kept the unemployment rate near a 50-year low of

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The Dow was up nicely on Thursday gaining 167-points led by Boeing and Dow Inc., but the broader indices were more mixed with the S&P 500 posting modest gains, and the Nasdaq dipping a few points. Bond yields slipped a bit, possibly the reason for the mostly quiet day for stocks yesterday, as we await the March jobs report on Friday.

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A late rally pushed the Dow and S&P 500 back into positive after they had both given up some solid early gains and moved into negative territory. The Dow ended the day up 39.00 points and it was the Nasdaq and small caps leading on the upside, while we saw some negative reversal patterns on a couple of charts - particularly the Transportation Index. Bond yields bounced back as the F-fund lagged.

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