Friday’s report capped a week of mostly encouraging data on the job market, including an update indicating layoffs remain relatively low. Such strength helps allay one of Wall Street’s top questions: whether the job market will continue to hold up after the Federal Reserve earlier kept interest rates at a two-decade high.

Odds of a 50 basis point cut dropped to 0% from 53% last week after the strong September jobs report, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

The Dow was up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite rallied 0.9%. Still, all three major U.S. stock indexes remained down modestly for the week, with the S&P 500 on track for a slight 0.1% weekly decline, FactSet data show, at last check.

"On the face of this the Fed should be hiking rates with these sorts of figures, not cutting rates," Economist James Knightley said.

Breakeven rates are a measure of what market participants expect average inflation to be over the next 5 or 10 years. As of Wednesday, the most recent day in which data is available from the St. Louis Fed, 5- and 10-year breakeven rates were respectively at 2.1% and 2.21%.

Indexes fell Thursday on rising risks to oil supplies amid escalating Middle East tensions and as traders braced for Friday's labor market update.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2%, while the Dow industrials and S&P 500 added about 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. The blockbuster September U.S. payrolls eased recession fears.

U.S. stocks rallied Friday after a surprisingly strong report on the U.S. job market raised optimism about the economy. The Standard & Poor's 500 climbed 0.9% and got close to its all-time high set on Monday.

The Dow posted a record closing high on Friday and the Nasdaq ended with a more than 1% gain as a stronger-than-expected jobs report reassured investors who had worried the economy may be getting too weak.