Stocks jump after solid March jobs report

Stocks climbed Friday after the government said job growth continued at a strong clip in March.

Makers of consumer goods and household products rose, and health care companies rebounded.

The solid employment report helped U.S. stocks stay out of a steep global decline.

Early in the day, stocks tumbled along with the prices of oil and precious metals, but they recovered in the afternoon and finished at their highest levels of the day. The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed that employers added 215,000 jobs last month, a sign the economy isn’t slowing down. Energy companies took big losses. Hotel companies and airlines both tumbled.

The jobs report was a bit stronger than investors expected but was consistent with hiring over the last few years.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 107.66, or 0.61 percent, to 17,792.75.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.04, or 0.63 percent, to 2,072.78.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 44.69, or 0.92 percent, to 4,914.54.

Stocks haven’t made many sharp moves in recent weeks, but they have drifted gradually higher.

Consumer companies rose. Procter & Gamble, which makes Pampers diapers, Tide detergent and Olay beauty products, gained $1.22, or 1.5 percent, to $83.53. Drugstore chain Walgreens rose $2.46, or 2.9 percent, to $86.70. Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies and Trident gum, added $1.12, or 2.8 percent, to $41.24.

Energy prices dropped as investors became more pessimistic about the fate of a proposed deal for major oil-producing nations to reduce production. That would help address a gigantic glut in global supplies, which has hurt prices.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Stocks jump after solid March jobs report."