Stocks rose Friday after the release of a surprisingly strong monthly jobs report.

The U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 204,000 jobs in October despite a federal government shutdown that was expected to limit payroll growth. Despite the gains, the unemployment rate edged up to 7.3% from 7.2%.

In addition, numbers for the prior two months — Aug and Sept — were revised up by a total 60,000 jobs.

(READ the story from USA Today)