Stocks Surge on Jobs News

This morning's better-than-expected unemployment figures sent markets up in a hurry at the opening bell. The Dow rose about 130 points in the opening minutes on news that employers shed just 11,000 jobs in November, the fewest since 2007, notes MarketWatch. The figures brought the unemployment rate down to 10% from 10.2%, when most forecasters thought it would hold steady.

“With firms seeing profits improving we’re starting to see a much brighter labor market,” one economist tells Bloomberg. “Confidence has been restored and firms now have started to redeploy their cash.” (More unemployment stories.)