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.

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.

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.

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

Stocks rallied after data showed nonfarm payrolls grew by 254,000 jobs in September, far outpacing the forecasted gain of 150,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemploy