It was a fantastic week for markets overall, as news that the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in January and lessened fears about financial catastrophe in Europe helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) to its highest close since May 2008. Not to be outdone, the Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC  ) closed at its highest level in more than a decade, spurred by strong gains from technology stocks.

The winners
While the three major indices clearly had a great week, some individual Dow companies fared even better. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) continued its remarkable run in 2012, finishing up 7.5% on the week. The company is now up more than 41% in just this year alone. Bank of America was one of the primary beneficiaries of the positive jobs report released Friday morning, which showed that the unemployment rate fell from 8.5% to 8.3%, a three-year low.

American Express was the Dow's second biggest gainer of the week, up 4.8%. The company has now advanced by a solid 10.8% in just over a month in 2012. United Technologies (NYSE: UTX  ) was the week's third biggest gainer, finishing up 4.4%. The aerospace and defense conglomerate reported solid earnings last week, with profit jumping 10.8% in its fourth quarter. United Technologies was also pushed up by stellar earnings from Goodrich, the company that agreed to be acquired by United Technologies last year.

Outside the Dow, there were some even bigger winners. Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA  ) finished the week up an incredible 40.6%, in large part because of Facebook's IPO filing on Wednesday. Facebook relies on Zynga, the maker of popular games such as Farmville and Words With Friends, for a whopping 12% of its revenue.

While these companies had a phenomenal week, our chief investment officer has picked out one company that he believes will have a phenomenal full year in 2012. This company has so much promise that we've dubbed it "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." It highlights a company that is revolutionizing commerce in Latin America. You can get instant access to the name of this company for free.

It was a day of milestones for the market.

We were surprised on Friday morning by a positive jobs report. The resulting unemployment rate fell from 8.5% to 8.3%, a three-year low.

That drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) up 1.23% to 12,862.23; the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC  ) up 1.46% to 1,344.90; and the Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC  ) up 1.61% to 2,905.66.

The Dow saw highs it hasn't seen since May 2008. The Nasdaq? December 2000!

Bank of America leads the way
All but two of the Dow's 30 components were up for the day, but Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) was by far the biggest winner, up 5.2%. It also led all gainers for the week at 7.5%. And year-to-date (basically a month), it's up a whopping 41%!

Today reinforces that good news for the economy is good news for banking and great news for the banking laggards. Fellow doghouse tenant Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) was up 4.8% Friday (28% for the year).

To keep things in perspective, Bank of America's shares have been beaten down so low that a 41% gain still has them trading at just over half of 52-week highs.

If we're in the middle of a strong economic recovery, Bank of America and Citigroup shares could be given huge boosts. On the other hand, if European woes or Chinese bubbles throw the world economy into a tailspin, B of A and Citi will have their work cut out for them.

The bottom line
I'm bullish on shares of both Bank of America and Citigroup barring an economic meltdown, but they're quite complex and opaque. So tread carefully.

For a much less complex bank that has some of the best operational numbers I've ever seen. It's featured in our brand new free report: "The Stocks Only the Smartest Investors Are Buying." I invite you to take a free copy to find out the name of the small bank I believe Warren Buffett would be interested in if he could still invest in small banks.