Stocks end 5-day losing streak: Dow gains 191

Stocks on Friday finally broke a five-day losing streak, with the Dow jumping almost 200 points. But, downer alert: All three major benchmarks slid for a third straight week and remain well in the red for 2015.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 1.1% -- a gain of 191 points -- while the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.3% and 1.4%, respectively.

The market has been marked by volatility so far this year as the Dow has closed seven times with a triple-digit move and five of them to the downside.

Investors remain cautious after a disappointing earnings report from Goldman Sachs (GS) and continued fallout from the Swiss National Bank's shock decision Thursday to stop keeping its currency artificially cheap.

Asian stocks fell sharply after Switzerland's central bank surprise move to lift the cap on the Swiss franc against the euro.

The Swiss National Bank, or SNB, said Thursday that it decided to ditch an increasingly expensive policy to cap the rise of the Swiss franc.

"At least for the short term the Swiss Bank action has opened up a new front of financial markets risk," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% to 16,864.16 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1% to 24,103.52.

Shares in Europe traded were mostly higher but stocks in Switzerland fell over 5%. Britain's FTSE was up 0.5% and Germany's DAX index gained 0.5%.

On Friday, the dollar edged up against the yen to $116.328 while the euro saw slight gains against the greenback at $1.1632.

The benchmark U.S. crude futures contract was up 88 cents to $47.12 a barrel in electronic NYMEX trading. The contract tumbled $2.23 to settle at $46.25 in New York on Thursday.

U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday following a volatile session that saw the major indexes swing between gains and losses.

Contributing: Associated Press