Burst of hiring by US employers last month sends stocks indexes higher in early trading

U.S. stocks are opening higher as investors were encouraged by a burst of hiring last month.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,890 as of 9:36 a.m. Friday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose nine points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,955. The Nasdaq composite rose 19 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,449.

Before trading opened the U.S. government reported that employers added 248,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent, the lowest since July 2008.

Gold fell as traders moved money out of safe-haven assets. Gold fell 1 percent to $1,200 an ounce.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.46 percent.