US STOCKS-Wall Street jumps as historic job losses better than feared

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* Plunge in April nonfarm payrolls smaller than feared
* Disney rises as tickets sell out for Shanghai park
* Uber climbs as ride service bookings recover
* Indexes up: Dow 1.54%, S&P 1.45%, Nasdaq 1.56%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By C Nivedita and Medha Singh
May 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes gained on
Friday as staggering job losses in April due to the coronavirus
outbreak were still slightly better than feared, adding to
optimism from an easing in U.S.-China friction.
Official figures showed nonfarm payrolls plummeted 20.5
million in April - their steepest plunge since the Great
Depression. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 22 million
job losses. "There were whispers that the number could come in much
worse," said Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer at Wells
Fargo Wealth & Investment Management in New York.
"The fact they didn't come in higher is a bit of a relief
rally. The market is exhaling a little bit on the fact that the
worst jobs report in modern history wasn't even worse."
Wall Street's indexes are now on course for their first
weekly gain in three weeks, with the Nasdaq recouping all its
losses for 2020, as investors pinned their hopes on supply
chains coming back on track and a revival in consumer spending
as several U.S. states reopened economies.
On Thursday, financial markets began pricing in a negative
U.S. interest rate environment for the first time ever,
expecting the Federal Reserve to pump even more cash into the
system to rescue the economy from a deep global recession.
Also lifting the mood on Friday, Beijing said Sino-U.S.
trade negotiators had agreed to improve the atmosphere for the
implementation of a Phase 1 deal, days after U.S. President
Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs. Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX slipped to its lowest since
early March, consistently easing from levels last seen during
the global financial crisis.
At 12:45 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 368.28 points, or 1.54%, at 24,244.17, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 41.72 points, or 1.45%, at 2,922.91. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 140.44 points, or 1.56%, at 9,120.10.
Financial stocks .SPSY tracked a rise in Treasury yields,
while energy stocks .SPNY jumped on the back of higher oil
prices. US/ O/R
Disney DIS.N rose 2.3% as tickets for the earliest days of
Shanghai Disneyland's re-opening in China sold out rapidly.
Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N jumped 6.2% as the company
said its ride service bookings recovered in recent weeks and
that it expects a coronavirus-related slowdown will delay the
goal of becoming profitable by a matter of quarters, not years.
Boeing Co BA.N rose 2.8% as Chief Executive Officer David
Calhoun said in a interview with Fox Business News that the
planemaker expects to start production of grounded 737 MAX jet
this month. But Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp CTSH.O fell 2.4%
after the IT services and outsourcing firm warned of weak demand
this year.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.29-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.84-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 10 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 55 new highs and one new lows.