Friday's early trade: Stocks jump on strong jobs report, trade optimism

US stocks jumped on Friday as solid monthly jobs data and upbeat comments from President Donald Trump on trade talks with China spurred riskier bets, putting the benchmark S&P 500 index on track to log its second weekly gain in a row.

Wall Street's main indexes are now close to all-time highs that they hit last week, after being nudged off by mixed headlines on US-China trade.

A Labor Department report showed domestic job growth increased by the most in 10 months in November, aided by striking workers returning to General Motors' payrolls and more hiring in the healthcare industry.

"After the sharp slowdown at the start of the year, the recent rebound in employment growth is clearly encouraging and suggests that the loosening in financial conditions this year is starting to support the economy," said Andrew Hunter, senior US economist at Capital Economics in London.

Global financial markets began the day on a strong note as Trump said trade discussions with China were "moving right along." China said it will waive import tariffs for some soybeans and pork shipments from the United States, lifting the mood.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Dec. 15 deadline is still in place for a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods, but Trump likes where trade talks are going.

Trade-sensitive Philadelphia Semiconductor index gained 1.5% and the broader technology sector added 1.1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 334.71 points, or 1.21%, at 28,012.50, the S&P 500 was up 31.56 points, or 1.01%, at 3,148.99 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 86.19 points, or 1.01%, at 8,656.89.

Ulta Beauty Inc jumped 13%, the most among S&P 500 companies, after the cosmetics retailer beat quarterly profit expectations. 3M Co gained 3.7% after a report said the company is exploring a sale of its drug delivery systems business which could fetch about $1 billion.

Tesla Inc rose 2% after the electric vehicle maker said its Chinese-built Model 3 cars would receive state subsidies.