Stocks rose significantly Friday, with the Dow industrials erasing their losses for the year, as investors welcomed a better-than-expected report on the U.S. labor market. For the week, the three major indexes rose, with the Dow gaining 2.9 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq each advancing 3.7 percent. The U.S. government's widely anticipated jobs report showed that the U.S. economy lost jobs for a third consecutive month in August, but employers cut fewer positions that economists had forecast. The economy lost 54,000 jobs last month, down from 131,000 in July. Economists had expected a loss of 121,000 in August. The private sector added 67,000 jobs, beating economists' expectations for a gain of 44,000. The unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent last month from 9.5 percent in July, as expected. A second report showed U.S. service-sector growth slowing more than expected in August, though the massive sector has expanded every month so far this year.
