Stocks surge in early trading after hiring climbs
By BERNARD CONDON, Associated Press
May 3, 2013 9:37 AM CDT
In this Thursday, May 2, 2013, photo, traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stock markets edged higher on Friday May 3, 2013 ahead of the release of the U.S. government's monthly unemployment report, a key measure of the health of the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Richard...   (Associated Press)

A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high.

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.

In the first hour of trading Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 173 points to 15,004, a gain of 1.2 percent.

The S&P 500 index surged 20 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,618. It has been thirteen years since the broad stock-market index broke through 1,500.

The government said U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, more than economists were expecting. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, the lowest in four years.

Government bond yields fell as moved money out of bonds and into riskier assets.