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* U.S. nonfarm payrolls post biggest gain in 10 months
* Treasury yields jump, bank shares rise
* Ulta Beauty jumps on quarterly profit beat
* Indexes up: Dow 1.22%, S&P 500 0.91%, Nasdaq 1%
(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended solidly higher
on Friday as a strong jobs report and optimism about U.S.-China
trade negotiations ahead of an upcoming deadline helped stoke
investor risk appetite.
All three major U.S. stock indexes gained ground, hovering
within 1% of record highs set last week.
But as a tumultuous week of contradictory trade news and
mixed economic data drew to a close, only the S&P 500 posted a
weekly gain. The Dow and the Nasdaq ended the session down from
last Friday's close.
The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in November, the largest
increase in 10 months, according to the Labor Department,
blowing past analyst estimates. The unemployment rate edged down
to 3.5%.
"This type of report shows underlying economic strength, and
it gives corporate management confidence in the strength of the
economy," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at
Inverness Counsel in New York. "Primarily because of (trade
negotiations), there's been a lot of uncertainty with
management."
Regarding trade, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow
said that while the Dec. 15 remains the date when the next round
of tariffs on Chinese goods will take effect, "the reality is
constructive talks, almost daily talks; we are, in fact, close."
"You have two very tough negotiators and a lot of tough
issues to be agreed on," Ghriskey added. "But, based on what
we're hearing from serious sources, it certainly appears we will
be seeing some kind of trade deal."
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the strong employment
report, and bank stocks had their best day in over a
month, rising 1.6%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337.27 points,
or 1.22%, to 28,015.06, the S&P 500 gained 28.48 points,
or 0.91%, to 3,145.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added
85.83 points, or 1%, to 8,656.53.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, all but utilities
closed in positive territory, with energy,
financials and trade-sensitive industrials
enjoying the largest percentage gains.
Energy stocks were buoyed by a 1.1% rise in crude prices
following an agreement between OPEC and its allies to
extend output cuts through 2020.
Industrials had their best day in over a month, rising 1.3%.
Kudlow's comments also lifted tariff-vulnerable chip stocks,
sending the Philadelphia Semiconductor index up 1.6%.
Shares of cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty Inc jumped
11.1%, the best performer in the S&P 500, after beating
quarterly profit expectations.
Tesla Inc rose 1.7% after revealing it would
receive state subsidies for its Chinese-built Model 3 cars.
3M Co advanced 4.3% after Bloomberg reported the
company was exploring a sale of its drug delivery systems
business, which could fetch about $1 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.93-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.27-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 54 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 124 new highs and 45 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.64 billion shares, compared
with the 6.65 billion-share average over the last 20 trading
days.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; editing by Jonathan Oatis)