The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average set records on Friday after solid employment figures boosted investors’ confidence in the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 3.45 points — 0.2 percent — to close at 2,075.37, while the DJI nearly hit 18,000 and settled 58.60 points up — 0.3 percent — at 17,958.79, according to Fox Business. The gains were fueled by a strong jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor, which indicated that payrolls had increased by 321,000 in the month of November, beating consensus figures by 86,000.

The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8 percent, but that figure is much lower than it was last year at around this time.

The boost in payrolls was much stronger than what economists had expected, which was about 235,000 jobs, according to MarketWatch. It followed a series of strong job gains that may cause the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates, which have been near zero, sooner rather than later.

The S&P 500’s gain was fueled largely by financial and healthcare stocks, with the energy and utilities sectors lagging. The DJI, meanwhile, set an intraday high, driven by an increase in blue-chip stocks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

Another important index, the Russell 2000 (RUT) — a benchmark for small-capitalization mutual funds, versus the S&P 500, which is large cap — outperformed the large caps, adding 9.42 percent, a 0.8 percent increase, ending at 1,182.42 on the week.

Finally, the Nasdaq Composite index added 11.32 points, a 0.2 percent gain, ending at 4,780.76.

The November jobs report marks the biggest monthly gain since early 2012 and extends a streak of gains that suggest to investors that the economy is starting to take off. Also, the labor report showed that wages were starting to accelerate as well, with every industry hiring.