NEW YORK, May 5 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks posted big gains on Friday as U.S. strong employment report in April eased concerns over looming economic recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 546.64 points, or 1.65 percent, to 33,674.38. The S&P 500 rose 75.03 points, or 1.85 percent, to 4,136.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 269.01 points, or 2.25 percent, to 12,235.41.

All of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with energy and technology sectors leading the gainers up 2.75 percent and 2.71 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the utilities sector registered the smallest growth of 0.66 percent.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 253,000 in April, beating economists’ expectation of 178,000, according to data issued by the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday. However, the growth in March was revised from 236,000 to 165,000.

U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 3.4 percent in April, down from 3.5 percent in March, and average hourly earnings increased by 0.5 percent in April month on month.

The strong nonfarm payroll report provided traders with a chance to forget about the banking crisis, said Vladimir Zernov, analyst with market information supplier FX Empire.

Strong U.S. jobs data and the rebound in the shares of regional banks boosted the rally of S&P 500 Index, according to Zernov.

The shares of PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp. soared 81.70 percent and 49.23 percent on Friday, respectively, following their deep dives in the previous session.

Moreover, the shares of Apple Inc. posted a handsome rise of 4.69 percent on Friday thanks to strong operating results issued late Thursday.

The CBOE VIX Index, a popular measure of the market’s expectation of volatility with the S&P 500 index in the next 30 days, dropped 14.44 percent to 17.19 on Friday.