U.S. stocks rose this week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index registered a fifth straight weekly advance as reports showed employment in the U.S topped analyst estimates and global manufacturing is strengthening.

The S&P 500 has recovered most of its losses after the European debt crisis drove it down 19 percent between April 29 and Oct. 3, boosted by better-than-estimated economic data and corporate profits.

The Index is 1.4 percent away from surpassing its peak nine months ago and reaching the highest since June 2008.

Labor Department figures showed payrolls increased by 243,000 in January, exceeding all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey that showed median economist projection for an increase of 140,000.

The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009.

Financial companies in the S&P 500 climbed 4.2 percent as a group, the largest gain among 10 industries.