Stocks rise on hopes that awful jobs report marks the bottom

Wall Street doubled down on its bet that the worst of the recession has passed, sending stocks higher again on Friday despite another historic, crushing report on the job market.

Stocks around the world were already rising before the U.S. government gave its monthly report on jobs, in part on hopes that the U.S. and China won’t restart their trade war. After the report showed employers cut a record-busting 20.5 million jobs last month, the gains actually accelerated.

While the number is a nightmare, it was slightly below the 21 million that economists told markets to brace for. More importantly, investors are betting they won’t see another report that bad again because the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits has slowly declined the last five weeks.

“Equity investors are looking for that hope in the third and fourth quarter of this year,” said Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors.

The S&P 500 rose 1.7%, to 2,929.80 for its fourth gain in the last five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 455.43, or 1.9%, to 24,331.32, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.6%, to 9,121.32. -- AP