NEW YORK -
Stocks are rising sharply on Wall Street after the government reported that employers stepped up hiring in July at the fastest pace in five months.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 205 points to 13,084 in the first half-hour of trading Friday. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 24 points to 1,389. The Nasdaq composite added 54 points to 2,964.
The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. added 163,000 jobs last month, a turnaround following three months of sluggish hiring.
Between April and June, the economy added an average of just 75,000 jobs a month compared with 226,000 jobs per month in the first three months of the year.
The stock market is headed for its first gain after four days of losses.
U.S. service companies, which employ 90 percent of Americans, grew at a slightly faster pace in July.
The Institute for Supply Management says its index of non-manufacturing activity picked up slightly last month with a reading of 52.6. That was a tiny improvement from June's reading of 52.1, which had been the lowest since January 2010.
Still, any reading above 50 indicates expansion. The service sector has now grown for 31 straight months.
In July, part of the strength came from a rise in the index component which tracks new orders.
Service companies include retail, construction, financial services, health care and hotels, among other industries.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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