Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 30.15 or 0.24% to 12,560.20, the broader S&P 500 closed up 4.39 or 0.30% to 1,443.76, and the Nasdaq closed up 12.65 or 0.51% to 2471.34. For the week, the Dow gained 1.7%, the S&P gained 1.6%, and the Nasdaq gained 2.1%.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by 19 to 12 on volume of 1.246 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers edged decliners 16 to 13 on volume of 1.558 billion shares.

With the Iranian situation solved, people feeling good ahead of the holiday, and easing of oil prices, saw the stocks higher. However, tomorrow the release of the Labor Department's March employment report is awaited. Employers are expected to have added 135,000 jobs to their payrolls after adding 97,000 in the previous month. A report showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week rose more than expected. The unemployment rate is expected to have risen to 4.6% in March from 4.5% in February.

Recent spate of weaker-than-expected economic reports have raised concerns about the pace of economic growth in 2007. At the same time, other reports have shown increased pricing pressure. This has sparked confusion as to how the Federal Reserve might handle the combined problems of slowing growth and higher inflation. Because of this, a particularly strong March payrolls report would probably weigh on stocks Monday, while a slightly weaker to in line report would be preferable.

Shares of Daimler Chrysler (NYSE: DCX) closed up $3.73 or 3% to $84.80, after billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian offered to buy Chrysler for $4.5 billion. His bid is contingent upon reaching a deal on a new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union. He would offer ownership stakes to the union and its membership as well as Chrysler management were he to buy it. The offer is contingent on reaching an "equitable arrangement" with DaimlerChrysler for it to assume some of the unfunded pension liabilities and health care costs of Chrysler retirees.

Stock of Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) closed down $0.56 or 4.6% to $11.51, after reporting quarterly earnings loss that was steeper than expected. The chipmaker also said that prices for memory chips have stabilized recently and that demand should pick up this year. The company took a $52 million loss in its second quarter and was cut to sell by Goldman Sachs. For the first quarter of fiscal 2007, the company reported a profit of $192 million, up from $63 million earned in the same period last year. This topped analysts' consensus estimate. Quarterly sales rose 16% to $1.58 billion, helped by demand for DRAM memory chips used in PCs being built ahead of Microsoft Corp.'s release of Vista.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 10 cents to settle at $64.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on relief about the developments in Iran. However, any sell-off was limited by concerns about lower gas inventories.