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In a fresh sign of Wall Street’s resiliency, stocks held onto their big week of gains on Friday as not even the unemployment rate soaring above the 10% threshold was enough to spook the markets.

 Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17.46 points, or 0.17%, to 10023.42, the S&P 500 gained 2.67 points, or 0.25%, to 1069.30 and the Nasdaq Composite added 7.12 points, or 0.34%, to 2112.44. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 picked up 4.34 points, or 0.56%, to 784.61.

Friday's resiliency, which was fueled in part by more weakness for the dollar, comes after the Dow soared 204 points a day ago amid upbeat economic reports and hopes the labor data would show job cuts slowed more significantly than they have. The benchmark index had been down as much as 69 points Friday morning before rallying off its lows. 

“If you wind the clock back six to eight months, everyone was forecasting unemployment would hit this level. The fact we’re here isn’t much of a surprise,” NYSE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business.

Despite closing in the green, more than half of the Dow's 30 components retreated, led by American Express (AXP) and Walt Disney (DIS). The index's biggest gainers included Travelers (TRV) and General Electric (GE), which rallied around a pair of analyst upgrades. For the week, the Dow soared 311 points, marking its best weekly gain in nearly a month. 

Wall Street initially reacted negatively after the Labor Department said the U.S. lost 190,000 jobs last month, compared to a steeper loss of 263,000 in September. Economists had expected a more modest loss of 175,000 jobs for October. The latest losses pushed the U.S. unemployment rate from 9.8% to 10.2%, marking the first time the gauge crossed the psychologically-important 10% threshold since 1983.

The weaker-than-expected labor figures underscore that while certain aspects of the economy like manufacturing, housing and consumer spending have improved, the job market has lagged behind, threatening to make this a bumpy recovery.

“What we have seen so far is a GDP and productivity recovery,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial. “This unemployment rate makes an average person on the street, who looks at the economy in terms of jobs, ask: ‘Where is the recovery?’”

Friday's comeback was led by the basic materials sector, which climbed nearly 1% as gold soared above the $1100 threshold on a weaker dollar. Metals stocks like U.S. Steel (X) closed higher as a weaker greenback tends to boost demand for commodities. Gold-related stocks like Newmont Mining (NEM) and Hecla Mining (HL) also jumped as gold closed at a fresh all-time high. 

Closing out its best week in nearly nine months, gold rose $6.40 a troy ounce, or 0.59%, to $1095.10 -- a new all-time high. However, crude tumbled on the weak economic news, slumping $2.19 a barrel, or 2.75%, to $77.43. 

At the same time, General Electric soared more than 6% after Bernstein Research and Oppenheimer upgraded the conglomerate amid signs it will unload much of its non-core business and its stabilizing financial portfolio.  

Corporate Movers

Bank of America’s (BAC) board of directors was turned down in its search for a new CEO by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) execs Bill Winters and Charlie Scharf and Citigroup (C) board member Michael O’Neil, the New York Post reported. However, BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink, who has not been approached, might be interested in the job, the Post reported. The troubles in attracting an external candidate means the search may not be resolved until Thanksgiving.

American International Group (AIG) earned 68 cents a share last quarter, compared to a loss of $181.02 per share a year ago. However, it posted a non-GAAP profit of $2.85 a share, compared to the Street’s view of $1.98 a share.

Blackstone Group (BX) beat the Street with non-GAAP EPS of 25 cents and posted total segment revenues of $603.8 million. However, the company said the economic recovery could be gradual and uneven and warned commercial real estate trends continued to worsen.

Global Markets

European markets closed mixed. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.33% to 5142.72, Paris' CAC 40 lost 0.04% to 3707.29 and Frankfurt's DAX advanced 0.13% to 5488.25.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.74% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.63% to 21829.72.