Dow Surprisingly Closes 'Up'

On a day when most market analysts expected cautious trading and more bad news, they got something a whole lot better on Friday.

U.S. blue-chip stocks closed higher, thanks to a better-than-expected jobs report, with news of progress in the euro-zone debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 60.93 points, or 0.54 percent, at 11444.61. The blue-chip index gained as much as 172 points in early trading after a better-than-expected jobs report. But it lost those gains within the first half hour of trading and dropped as much as 245 points at its morning low.

According to the Wall Street Journal, "The measure bounced off the lows in the early afternoon as investors cheered news that Italy will speed up its fiscal consolidation timetable. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged to push labor reforms and said Italy would balance its country's budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned."