Stocks surge as investors bet on consumer spending

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped 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.

Investors snapped up shares of discounter Wal-Mart and iPod maker Apple Inc as oil slid below $41 a barrel to its lowest level in nearly four years and set aside early jitters stemming from a dismal November employment report.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's stock shot up nearly 6 percent to $58.21, making it one of the Dow's top-weighted advancers. The S&P Retail Index <.RLX> gained 4.4 percent. Apple helped lift the Nasdaq 100 as the stock climbed nearly 3 percent to $94.00.

"It means more discretionary spending for consumers, who are starting to feel better about themselves because they don't have to drop $100 every time they want to fill up their tank," said Angel Mata, managing director of listed trading at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore. "All of this is starting to feed together. That's what counting for this rally and for the strength we've had all this week."

A government report showed that U.S. employers cut payrolls by 533,000 in November, the weakest performance in 34 years, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent, the highest reading since 1993. For details, see [nN05444819]

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 259.18 points, or 3.09 percent, to end at 8,635.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed 30.85 points, or 3.65 percent, to 876.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 63.75 points, or 4.41 percent, to close at 1,509.31.

S&P DOWN 40 PERCENT FOR YEAR

As investors come to grips with the end of an awful year for trading stocks, the broad S&P is down 40 percent for the year, while the Dow has tumbled nearly 35 percent and the Nasdaq is down 43 percent.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq slipped 1.7 percent.

During Friday's session, financial-sector shares also advanced after Hartford Financial increased its 2008 profit forecast and said that it has enough capital to withstand further deterioration in the markets. The stock more than doubled to $14.59. The S&P financial index <.GSPF> gained nearly 9 percent.

Shares of Boeing , a Dow component, managed to overcome early losses despite news it may delay its new 787 Dreamliner further. Boeing added nearly 1 percent to $39.53.

MORE MOTOR CITY BLUES

Investors continued to fret, though, about the fate of the U.S. auto industry, with executives of the Big Three car makers, including General Motors , back on Capitol Hill to plead again for a $34 billion government rescue.

GM shares slipped 0.7 percent to $4.08, while Ford rose 2.3 percent to $2.72 as Washington considered whether to lend the automakers a helping hand.

Rep. Barney Frank warned that it would be an "unmitigated disaster" if a big U.S. automaker is allowed to collapse.

Volume on the NYSE was fairly healthy with about 1.62 billion shares changing hands, not far below last year's daily average of 1.90 billion. In contrast, on the Nasdaq, about 2.24 billion shares traded, above last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.

Advancers outpaced decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 7 to 3, while on the Nasdaq, about two stocks rose for every one that fell.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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