The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Oct. 5, edition that U.S. stocks surged on Friday after a strong report on the U.S. job market, boosting optimism about the economy. Dispatches from the Associated Press and Canadian Press report that the S&P 500 rose by 0.9 per cent, nearing its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new record, gaining 341 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.2 per cent higher. JPMorgan rose 3.5 per cent and the small companies in the Russell 2000 index gained 1.5 per cent. The strength of the U.S. economy reclaimed its spot as the top mover of markets. Treasury yields soared in the bond market after the U.S. government said employers added 254,000 more jobs to their payrolls last month than they cut. That was an acceleration from August's hiring pace of 159,000 and blew past economists' forecasts. Goldman Sachs analyst Lindsay Rosner calls the payroll report a "grand slam." She says policy-makers at the Federal Reserve, who have been trying to pull off the difficult feat of keeping the economy humming while getting inflation under control, "must be smiling." Friday's blowout numbers bolstered hope that the U.S. economy will keep growing.