Investors found another reason to buy up stocks Wednesday after a report indicated job losses might be slowing.
Most stocks rose after the ADP National Employment Report, an unofficial gauge of the labor market, said that private sector employment fell by 491,000 last month, a huge improvement from the 708,000 jobs lost in March. The ADP report said unemployment is likely to rise for several more months, but at a slower rate.
The news was a reassuring sign ahead of the Labor Department's Friday report on job losses, and offered another sign that the economy's slide could be moderating.
Confidence has been increasing on Wall Street amid improving economic data. Investors have been looking past mixed earnings reports, fears about a possible swine flu pandemic and a bankruptcy filing from Chrysler LLC to send the market up more than 30 percent from 12-year lows in early March.
Despite the good news on the job sector, many hurdles remain. Investors are still worried about the results of government "stress tests" on banks, due out Thursday, which will show which banks may need to raise more capital in order to be prepared for an even worse economic downturn.
The Dow rose 101.63, or 1.2 percent, to 8,512.28. The blue chips closed above the 8,500 mark for the first time since Jan. 9, leaving the Dow down only 3 percent for 2009.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15.73, or 1.7 percent, to 919.53. The gains pushed the index higher for the year after a rally on Monday helped erase the last of its losses from 2009.
The Nasdaq rose 4.98, or 0.3 percent, to 1,759.10.
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