US stocks finished with moderate gains on Friday after Federal Reserve officials vowed to use all the available tools at their disposal to boost lending and stabilize financial system.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.51 points or 0.50% to finish at 8,017.59. The S&P 500 climbed 8.12 points or 0.97% to end at 842.50. The Nasdaq Composite gained 19.24 points or 1.20% to 1,621.87.

For the week, Dow was up 214.41 points or 3.10%. S&P rose 26.56 points or 3.25%, while Nasdaq Composite settled with a weekly gain of 76.67 points or 4.96%.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that the U.S. central bank will continue to make responsible use of all of its tools to stabilize financial markets and institutions, to promote the extension of credit to creditworthy borrowers, and to help build a foundation for economic recovery.

Financial stocks finished higher. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) jumped 36 cents or 4.97% to $7.60. Citigroup (NYSE:C) climbed 11 cents or 4.01% to end at $2.85. Shares of JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) rallied $1.12 or 3.98% to $29.28.Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) surged $1.01 or 6.59% to $16.34.Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) soared $5.18 or 4.54% to $119.40.

On the downside, shares of software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) tumbled 54 cents or 2.80% to $18.75. Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) fell 82 cents or 1.55% to $52.15. Merck (NYSE: MRK) plunged 54 cents or 2% to $26.46.

Late on Thursday, Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) reported that fourth quarter earnings jumped nearly 26% to $518.3 million, or 90 cents a share, compared to earnings of $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue increased 25% to $3.46 billion. Consensus estimates were for earnings of 84 cents a share on revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter. Shares of the company surged $10.20 or 20.78% to $59.29.

Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) fell 13 cents or 2.81% to $4.50 after it said that its fiscal second-quarter net loss narrowed to $751 million, or 97 cents a share, compared with a loss of $777 million, or $1.01 a share, in the year ago period. Revenue fell to $993 million from $1.36 billion.

On the front of economic data, a Labor Department release on Friday showed the economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, worse than the 658,000 job losses expected by economists. The unemployment rate jumped to 7.6%, matching consensus estimates.

The Institute for Supply Management said that its services index declined to 40.8 in March from 41.6 in February. Economists expected the index to rise to 42. A reading below 50 suggests contraction.

European stocks settled mixed. The U.K. FTSE fell 95.30 points or 2.31% to 4029.67. The German DAX increased 0.07% while French CAC dropped 1.11%.

Asian stocks finished moderately higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 30.06 points or 0.34% to 8,749.84. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong gained 23.72 points or 0.16% to 14,545.69.

NYMEX crude oil for May delivery declined 18 cents or 0.3% to $52.46 a barrel.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.