Bank of America, Alcoa, Caterpillar: Dow Movers

Breadth within the Dow was positive with 28 of the index's 30 components posting gains.

Author:: Alexandra Zendrian
Publish date:: Feb 3, 2012 4:41 PM EST

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Stocks finished Friday on a positive note after

the release of better than expected U.S. jobs data

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 156.82 points, or 1.23%, to 12,862.23. The

S&P 500

increased 19.36 points to 1,344.90 and the

Nasdaq Composite

posted a gain of 45.98 points to 1,344.90.

Breadth within the Dow was positive with 28 of the index's 30 components on the rise.

The biggest percentage gainers in the index were

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

and

Caterpillar

(CAT) - Get Report

Bank of America gained 5.23% to $7.84. The stock's trading volume was elevated. About 339.3 million shares changed hands Friday compared to the three-month average volume of 268.9 million.

The continued improvement in the national jobs numbers can only help Bank of America, which "ended 2011 with $15.9 billion in reserves for

potential representations and warranties mortgage repurchase claims."

TheStreet Ratings

gives Bank of America a

D grade

and a sell rating.

Shares of Alcoa rose 3.26% to $10.76. Alcoa's trading volume was a little higher than usual at about 33.2 million shares, up from its three-month average of approximately 29.2 million shares.

The Ma'aden Alcoa joint venture announced Friday that it has begun construction on an alumina refinery at the Ras Al Khair aluminum complex in Saudi Arabia.

The mining sector added 10,000 U.S. jobs in January.

Alcoa gets a

C- grade

from

TheStreet Ratings

and a hold rating.

Caterpillar shares increased 3.27% to $113.94. The stock was trading at slightly elevated volume of about 9 million shares compared to its three-month average volume of about 7.8 million shares.

Construction employment rose by 21,000 in January.

TheStreet Ratings

gives Caterpillar a B+ grade with a buy rating and

$136.92

price target.

The biggest percentage decliners in the Dow were

Merck

(MRK) - Get Report

and

Procter & Gamble

(PG) - Get Report

. Both posted losses of less than 1%.