NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Friday following a solid US jobs report and a breakthrough in the Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union.
The US added a better-than-expected 228,000 jobs last month, as unemployment held steady at 4.1 percent. The report is expected to further boost the already-high odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week.
Market sentiment also was lifted by a deal in the thorny Brexit talks, resolving a number of controversies, including an agreement that there would be no return of checkpoints on the frontier between British-ruled Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves on March 29, 2019.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,252.99, up 0.2 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 percent to 2,645.77, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 percent to 6,862.03.
Analysts also said sentiment was helped by strong economic data from China and from Japan, where third-quarter growth of 0.6 percent came in twice as strong as previously estimated.
Major gainers early Friday included large technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet.
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