Stocks climb on hiring in service sector

Stocks edged higher in volatile trading Wednesday after a trade group reported that the service sector grew in September. Private company hiring also increased.

The Institute of Supply Management said its gauge of the U.S. service sector, which employs 90 percent of the workforce, continued to grow slowly in September as well. The index measures the strength of health care, banking, real estate, and other businesses outside of manufacturing.

Payroll processor ADP said private companies added 91,000 jobs last month. That was a slight gain from August. ADP's figures do not always align with the government's broad employment report, but they can often influence traders' expectations. The government report is due Friday.

However, announced firings jumped 212 percent, the largest increase since January 2009, to 115,730 last month from 37,151 in September 2010, according to Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Cuts in government employment, led by the Army's five-year troop reduction plan, and at Bank of America accounted for almost 70 percent of the announcements.

Just before noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 37.92 points at 10,846.6. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 6.3 points at 1,130.3. The Nasdaq composite was up 27.5 at 2,432.3

The latest indications of growth in the U.S. economy pushed Treasury prices lower as investors moved money out of lower-risk investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.89 percent from 1.82 percent late Tuesday.

European indexes rose broadly following reports that European officials are exploring a joint effort to support the region's struggling banks. That could limit the damage to the financial system should the Greek government completely default on its debt, which many traders expect. The reports, which came out after European markets closed Tuesday, triggered a late rally in U.S. stocks that prevented the S&P 500 from entering a bear market.