Stock market tileNEW YORK – Stocks edged higher after a report showed that hiring held up in December, keeping the Dow on track for its best week in more than six months.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 16 points to 13,407 as of 1:22 p.m. EST Friday. It’s up 3.6 percent for the week, putting it on track for its biggest weekly advance since June. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose four points to 1,464 and is up 4.4 percent in the week, its biggest gain in more than a year. The Nasdaq was up less than a point at 3,101.
Stocks have surged this week after lawmakers passed a bill to avoid a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases that have come to be known as the “fiscal cliff.” The law passed late Tuesday night averted that outcome, which could have pushed the economy back into recession.
The Labor Department said U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, showing that hiring held up during the tense fiscal negotiations in Washington. It also said hiring was stronger in November than first thought. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent.
The jobs report failed to give stocks more of a boost because the number of jobs was exactly in line with analysts’ forecasts, said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives trader for TD Ameritrade.