Wall Street rises on upbeat jobless data, stress test results

NEW YORK, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street settled sharply higher on Friday, after the U.S. government reported fewer job losses in April than market forecast and bank shares were boosted by stress test results.

The U.S. Labor Department posted on Friday that employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest in six months. It is a big improvement from a revised 699,000 job losses in March and less than the loss of 610,000 jobs analysts had expected. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983.

Bank shares led the market higher, as investors were relieved after the U.S. government released the results of the government's stress tests of major banks. The government says 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks must raise about 74.6 billion U.S. dollars in new capital, less than some had feared.

Moreover, Chevron and Exxon Mobil led an advance in energy companies as the crude climbed above 58 dollars a barrel.

The Dow Jones rose 164.80, or 1.96 percent, to 8,574.65. Broader indexes also traded higher. The Standard Poor's 500 index climbed 21.84, or 2.41 percent, to 929.23, and the Nasdaq added 22.76, or 1.33 percent, to 1,739.00.