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NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks posted solid gains Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq setting their new closing records, as investors cheered over the country's much-better-than-expected July jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 191.48 points, or 1.04 percent, to 18,543.53. The S&P 500 rose 18.62 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,182.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index leapt 54.87 points, or 1.06 percent, to 5,221.12.
U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 255,000 in July, beating economists' estimates of 180,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.
If the U.S. labor market is robust enough, analysts said the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates later this year.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said earlier this week that he did not rule out a rate increase at the central bank's next meeting in September.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that the goods and services deficit was 44.5 billion U.S. dollars in June, up 3.6 billion dollars from 41.0 billion dollars in May, revised.
Overseas, European equities also increased broadly Friday. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange jumped 1.36 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index added 0.79 percent.
In Asia, Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index inched down 0.19 percent to close at 2,976.7 points Friday, despite a notable increase in real estate and banking industry shares.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.6 percent, and the S&P 500 increased 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq was up 1.1 percent.
