The Labor Department reported that US nonfarm payrolls rose by 248,000 last month and the jobless rate fell two-tenths of a point to 5.9 percent.

The S&P 500 posted its best day since August on Friday following a stronger-than-expected September US jobs report that bolstered the outlook for the US economy. Despite the rally, however, major indexes ended down for the week, with the first diagnosis of Ebola in a patient in the United States and protests in Hong Kong among the main catalysts for sharp selling earlier in the week. The Labor Department reported that US nonfarm payrolls rose by 248,000 last month and the jobless rate fell two-tenths of a point to 5.9 percent.

“There were a number of fears in the market, and the market had been giving up a lot of its gains. I think the jobs report took away a lot of the near-term concerns about the pace of the U.S. economy’s (growth),” said Robbert Van Batenburg, director of market strategy at Newedge USA LLC in New York. A Reuters survey on Friday showed most of Wall Street’s top bond firms still see the Federal Reserve starting to raise interest rates no later than June of next year. All 10 S&P sectors ended in positive territory, though the S&P energy index was the day’s weakest and ended barely higher following further declines in oil prices. The energy index was down 3.8 percent for the week.

Financial and healthcare shares were among the day’s biggest positives. The Dow Jones transportation average also rallied, ending up 2.1 percent, its biggest daily percentage gain since March, as airline stock  jumped. Shares of Delta Air Lines rose 4.7 percent to USD 36.95. The Russell 2000 index rose 0.8 percent, but was down 1.3 percent for the week, its fifth straight week of losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 208.64 points, or 1.24 percent, to 17,009.69, the S&P 500 gained 21.73 points, or 1.12 percent, to 1,967.9 and the Nasdaq Composite added 45.43 points, or 1.03 percent, to 4,475.62. For the week, the Dow was down 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 was down 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.8 percent. The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Zendesk INC, which rose 16.93 percent to USD 25.55, while the largest percentage decliner was Cliffs Natural Resources, down 16.80 percent at USD 8.32.

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