U.S. markets end up Wednesday

New York -- A seesaw day on Wall Street ended with a push by U.S. stock indexes into positive territory.

The indexes rose in spite of dire employment news. Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported early that November's layoff total jumped to 181,671.

Automatic Data Processing Inc. said the country lost 250,000 non-farm jobs from October to November.

But shares in Citigroup Inc., which accounted for 50,000 of the November layoffs, rose 8.31 percent Wednesday.

By close, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 172.60 points, or 2.05 percent, to 8,591.69. The Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 2.58 percent, up 21.93 points to 870.74. The Nasdaq composite index rose 42.58 points, or 2.98 percent, to 1,492.38.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,084 stocks advanced and 1,048 declined on a volume of 7.28 billion shares traded.

The 10-year Treasury note rose 9/32 to yield 2.669 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro rose to $1.2708 from Tuesday's $1.2705, while the dollar rose to 93.35 yen from Tuesday's 93.28 yen.

The Nikkei index in Tokyo rose 1.79 percent to 8,004.10 on a gain of 140.41 points.

The FTSE 100 index in London rose 47.10 to 4,169.96, up 1.14 percent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.