OREANDA-NEWS. February 09, 2015. Wall Street stocks scored their best week of 2015 so far following a rally in oil prices, good US jobs data and some significant corporate acquisitions.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 659.34 points (3.84 percent) to 17,824.29.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 60.48 (3.03 percent) to 2,055.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 109.16 (2.36 percent) to 4,744.40.

Analysts cited higher oil prices as a source of investor relief. After retreating about 60 percent over six months, the US oil benchmark contract surged more than 16 percent over the last six sessions to finish the week at \\$51.69 a barrel.

"While the price of oil is not a primary driver of the market as a whole, the stability of the oil market is very important to the stability of the (stock) market," said David Levy portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management.

"With the stability in the oil market, investors are able to focus on other things that are perhaps more important."

The week's most closely-watched economic report, Friday's US jobs report for January, bested expectations by a wide margin.

The Labor Department said the US economy added 257,000 jobs in January, better than the 235,000 projected by analysts.

The report also included large upward revisions to jobs growth in November and December, making the most recent stretch the best three-month hiring period in the US since 1997.

The report also said hourly wage growth gained 0.5 percent, a big improvement after a December drop in a category that has been closely tracked by the US Federal Reserve as a gauge of economic strength.

"It was a great number, and it really was a multidimensional report," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.