Wall St. opens higher as job growth rebounds

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Friday after positive U.S. job data for April indicated signs of an uptick in the economy that could keep the Federal Reserve on track to hike interest rates this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 156.48 points, or 0.87 percent, to 18,080.54, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 16.39 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,104.39 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 51.28 points, or 1.04 percent, to 4,996.82.

(Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)