U.S. stocks got a much needed boost Friday with positive employment data surprised Wall Street. The U.S. economy added 244,000 jobs last month, with the private sector adding 268,000 jobs–the biggest increase in over five years. This shattered analysts expectations of just 185,000 jobs. Nonetheless, the U.S. unemployment rate still increased to 9.0 percent from 8.8 percent. The positive news stops the bleeding for investors, even if only temporary, since May started. Major U.S. indices have dropped roughly 1.5 percent to 2 percent over the course of the week until the jobs data was released. Commodities could be rebounding as well. Oil prices, which dipped below $100 a barrel yesterday, recovered a bit and it didn’t hurt that Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is reversing its bearish calls on energy prices to now seeing bullish record highs.

Major U.S. Stock Indices

DJIA: 12,679.00 (+0.75 percent)
S&P 500: 1,345.02 (+0.74 percent)
Nasdaq: 2,841.44 (0.95 percent)
Russell 2000: 837.87 (+1.04 percent)

In other news:

  • Glencore IPO continues to garner significant interest from investors, which has to be making the company’s top executives extremely happy. The $61 billion valuation means they own a combined $23 billion stake in the company. [WSJ]
  • Despite the David Sokol fiasco, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)still influence investors. Why you should be watching these two Brazil ETFs: Market Vectors Brazil Small Cap Index ETF (NYSE: BRF) and Guggenheim China Small Cap ETF (NYSE: HAO)
  • Sony’ s (NYSE: SNE) is offering $1 million of insurance coverage for free after over 70 million gamer accounts were hacked on the company’s Playstation Network. [Bloomberg]
  • Al Qaeda confirms the death of Osama Bin Laden and vows to retaliate. [Fox Business]
  • Exorbitant CEO pay is back! Companies like Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), McKesson (MCK), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) doled out huge salaries to their chief executives.

Check back for more news.