NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose sharply on Friday as investors bet that a steep drop in oil prices will boost consumer spending, lifting retail stocks and offsetting government data showing half a million jobs were lost in November.
* Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc jumped nearly 5 percent, making it one of the Dow's top-weighted advancers.
* A government report showed that U.S. employers cut payrolls by 533,000 in November, the weakest performance in 34 years.
* The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 259.18 points, or 3.09 percent, to end unofficially at 8,635.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 30.85 points, or 3.65 percent, to finish unofficially at 876.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 63.75 points, or 4.41 percent, to close unofficially at 1,509.31.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders; Editing by Jan Paschal)
