Stocks rose to record levels on Friday despite a weaker-than-expected jobs report for April, as investors dismissed the report and bet the Federal Reserve will keep its monetary policy loose to support the economy. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 notched fresh closing highs, while the Nasdaq outperformed with a 0.88% gain.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.7% to break its two-week losing streak, while the S&P 500 gained 1.2% and the Nasdaq declined 1.5%.

U.S. employers added just 266,000 jobs in April, dramatically missing expectations for a rise of 1 million, according to the Labor Department's April jobs report. The unemployment rate increased to 6.1% in April from 6.0% in March, also missing expectations for a 5.8% drop. March's payroll gain was also revised lower, now showing a rise of 770,000 versus the 916,000 previously reported. February's payrolls were revised up by 68,000 to 536,000.

Altogether, the U.S. economy remains 8.2 million payrolls short of pre-pandemic levels, and the unemployment rate is still above February 2020 rates.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +0.73% or +30.81 points to 4,232.43

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.66% or +277.91 points to 34,776.44

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.88% or +119.39 points to 13,752.24

For Stocks, mega-cap tech stocks Apple (AAPL  ), Amazon (AMZN  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ) and Microsoft (MSFT  ) rose higher as investors bet that the April's jobs report miss will keep the central bank's monetary policy loose.

For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 all settled in the green, with Energy (XLE  ), Real Estate (XLRE  ) and Industrials (XLI  ) leading gains.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) declined to its lowest point in more than two months on Friday following April's disappointing jobs report. The dollar index was down 0.63% at 90.27 against six other global currencies in afternoon trading. Gold (GLD  ) prices rose on the falling dollar as investors rushed to the safe haven following the unexpected drop in U.S. job growth. Spot gold was up 0.84% at $1,830.41 per ounce in later trade, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.9% higher at $1,831.30 per ounce. Crude oil futures climbed slightly higher on Friday as investors continued to be optimistic towards global economic recovery, although the surging COVID-19 infection rate in India kept gains in check. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) settled 0.28% higher at $68.28 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) gained by 0.29% at $64.90 each.

For the week ahead, market participants will look towards fresh data on U.S. job openings for March and retail sales for April.