New York ? Wall Street put an upbeat spin Friday on the government’s report that the nation lost more than half a million jobs last month. Stocks reversed early losses and closed sharply higher as the data raised hopes that Washington will again step in to help the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up nearly 260 points as investors’ shock dissipated over the Labor Department’s report that employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November compared with the 320,00 that economists forecast.

The Dow industrials jumped 259.18, or 3.09 percent, to 8,635.42. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 30.85, or 3.65 percent, to 876.07, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 63.75, or 4.41 percent, to 1,509.31.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 declined 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq fell 1.7 percent.