US stocks have soared to new closing records after a strong US jobs report revived confidence in the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 142.38 (0.96 per cent) to 14,973.96 on Friday, after having breached the 15,000 mark earlier for the first time.

The S&P 500 finished at 1614.42, up 16.83 (1.05 per cent), also setting a new record and crossing the 1600 mark for the first time.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 3378.63, up 38.01 (1.14 per cent).

The rise followed a US Labor Department report that showed the US economy added 165,000 jobs in April, well above market expectations.

Upward revisions for the prior two months also showed 114,000 more jobs were added than initially estimated.

“The reason the market is heading higher is because most people on Wall Street expect the fundamentals to improve as the year progresses,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s.