NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks jumped at the open Friday, as investors once again found encouragement that the end to the Iraq war could be near and looked the other way when a miserable jobs report came in before the opening bell.

At 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average (up 33.75 to 8274.13, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 2.80 to 879.25, Charts) index saw modest gains. The Nasdaq composite (down 1.73 to 1394.85, Charts) stuck near the unchanged mark.

Investors' hopes for a short war were once again revived on reports that U.S. forces have taken control of most of Baghdad's main airport and that 2,500 Iraqi Republican Guards surrendered to U.S. troops overnight.

In a pattern familiar from earlier in the week, investors once again shrugged off weak news on the economy, as geopolitical concerns took their focus away from domestic issues.

The Labor Department said the number of non-farm jobs dropped by 108,000 last month, which was more than three times the 29,000 jobs economists had expected to have been lost. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8 percent -- economists had been expecting a slight rise to 5.9 percent.

Stocks ignored dismal reports on the manufacturing sector and factory orders earlier in the week.

In corporate news, investors awaited March quarterly results from aluminum maker Alcoa (AA: Research, Estimates). The company will be the first Dow component to report earnings for the quarter, with analysts surveyed by First Call expecting to see a decline in profit to 19 cents a share from 22 cents a share a year earlier, on average.

Helping the airline sector, Congress approved more than $3 billion in aid for airlines, which are still feeling the effects of the Sept. 11 attacks and the slowdown in travel due to the war in Iraq.

European markets gained in midday trading, while Asian-Pacific stocks finished the day higher Friday.

Treasury prices fell in early trading, with the 10-year note losing 11/32 and yielding 3.95 percent compared with 3.91 percent late Thursday. The dollar continued its recent climb off of its sharp lows in the weeks leading up to war, gaining on the yen and the euro.

Brent oil futures fell 82 cents to $24.16 a barrel in London. Gold for June delivery also dropped $1.20 an ounce in New York, hovering near four-month lows at $324.50, down from $325.30 late Thursday.