US STOCKS-Stimulus hopes power S&P 500 to record high

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Oil companies boosted by jump in crude prices
* U.S. economy logs fifth straight monthly slowdown in job
gains
* S&P 500, Dow on track to log gains for four weeks out of
five
* All three major U.S. stock indexes up about 0.4%

(Updates to open)
By Shriya Ramakrishnan and Medha Singh
Dec 4 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 jumped to an all-time high on
Friday as data showing the slowest jobs growth in six months
reinforced expectations for a new fiscal stimulus bill to help
revive the economy from its worst downturn in decades.
Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes traded higher, with the
energy sector .SPNY leading gains, followed by financials
.SPSY and the materials .SPLRCM sector.
Oil majors Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY.N and Chevron
Corp CVX.N climbed about 1% each, boosted by a rise in crude
prices, as major producers agreed on a compromise to continue
the bulk of existing supply curbs. O/R
The Labor Department's closely watched report showed nonfarm
payrolls increased by 245,000 jobs after rising by 610,000 in
October. That was the smallest gain since the jobs recovery
started in May. Analysts said the dismal report could spur policymakers to
push harder for a stimulus bill as more than 13 million people
were due to lose their government-funded unemployment benefits
on Dec. 26 without quick action by Congress.
"The bad news of the weakening jobs picture is potentially
good news for investors because it means that the stimulus bill
is much more likely to take place in a fairly short time frame,"
said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in
North Carolina.
At 09:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 117.01 points, or 0.38%, to 30,082.62, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 15.62 points, or 0.43%, to 3,682.34 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 43.74 points, or 0.35%, to 12,420.92.
A bipartisan $908 billion coronavirus aid plan gained
momentum in the Congress on Thursday after a months-long
standoff between Republicans and Democrats over the size of the
potential package. The two parties also face a Dec. 11 deadline to pass a $1.4
trillion budget or risk a shutdown of the
government. Positive vaccine updates from major drugmakers have eased
worries around grim economic data and a surge in infections,
setting Wall Street's main indexes for another week of gains
after the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX clocked its best November.
The United States set single-day records for new infections
and deaths on Thursday, with California's governor saying he
would impose some of the nation's strictest stay-at-home orders
in the coming days. Shares of U.S. carriers and cruise lines including American
Airlines AAL.O , Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH.N and Carnival
Corp CCL.N were up between 2% and 3%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by 3.5-to-1 on the
NYSE and by 2.6-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 156 new highs and five new lows.