US stocks rose on Friday after two days of sharp losses as investors scooped up beaten-down shares, including energy and technology, and brushed aside signs of a worsening economy. Although a government report showed US employers cut payrolls by 240,000 in October, much more severely than expected, analysts said the market had already taken into account the bad news.
The US unemployment rate jumped in October to 6.5 percent, the highest since March 1994. General Motors and Ford both posted wider-than-expected quarterly losses. GM said liquidity will fall short of the minimum needed to run its business by the first half of next year without new funding or other drastic action.
But investors were still tempted into the market by stocks that remain at multi-year lows and were encouraged that President-elect Barack Obama was meeting with top economic and business advisers on Friday, underscoring the urgency he attaches to the economy's problems.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 184.46 points, or 2.12 percent, to 8,880.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 19.59 points, or 2.16 percent, to 924.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 32.06 points, or 1.99 percent, to 1,640.76.