NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow stock market index closed above 14,000 for the first time since before the financial crisis rocked the world economy.

Propelled by strong auto sales and optimism about U.S. jobs, the Dow Jones industrial average crossed the line early Friday and continued flirting with the mark all day. The other major stock indexes also rose.

The Dow was up 149 points to 14,010. It's gained 6.9 percent this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 15 to 1,513. The Nasdaq composite index added 37 to 3,179.

The market celebrated after the release of Labor Department figures that showed payrolls rising 157,000 in January after a revised 196,000 gain in December and a 247,000 influx in November.

“Everyone was so concerned about the fiscal cliff, yet we had some really strong hiring in the private sector during those months,” said Cronk of the final two months of 2012.

Separate data had manufacturing in January expanding to a nine-month high and confidence taking an unexpected turn upward.

Friday’s rally followed a solid month for equities, with the S&P 500 gaining 5 percent in January, which also marked the first full month since 2007 where more money flowed into equity funds than bond funds, said Art Hogan, market strategist at Lazard Capital Markets.

Ahead of Friday’s open, stock-index futures had added to gains after the government reported the U.S. economy created a smaller-than-expected 157,000 jobs in January but added more the prior two months than initially thought. The January unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to stand at 7.9 percent.