New York, Aug 8 (DPA) US stocks rose after the government reported Friday that job losses in July were not as severe as expected, reinforcing hope that the economy has begun to recover from the worst recession in decades.

The Department of Labour said employers cut 247,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate dipped from 9.5 percent to 9.4 percent.

The news played out well on Wall Street, where all three major indices enjoyed modest gains.

'The market has a laser focus on the economy and on jobs, so any improvement in that leads to an improvement in the stock market,' David Katz of Matrix Asset Advisors in New York told Bloomberg news. 'The worst is behind for the economy, and we're on the mend.'

Leading the way was the Nasdaq Composite Index, which climbed by 1.37 percent, or 27.09 points, to 2,000.