Washington ? Job prospects are looking just a little brighter.

The service sector, which makes up 80 percent of the economy, grew for the seventh month in a row, and state aid to preserve jobs for tens of thousands of teachers and other public employees cleared a key hurdle in Congress on Wednesday.

Of course, the job market still has a long way to go. A key employment report due out Friday is expected to show the nation actually lost jobs in July, mostly because of temporary census work that came to an end.

“The good news is that the economy is still moving forward, but the bad news is that it is moving at a fairly moderate rate,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “At least we have enough underlying strength in the economy to keep pushing us forward.”

Wednesday’s news seemed to satisfy investors. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 55 points in afternoon trading.

People place their food orders at The Taco Truck restaurant in Hoboken, N.J., in this July 21 file photo. Growth in the U.S. service sector picked up in July, according to a trade group’s survey, in a good sign for the overall economy and the job market.

• Toyota posts $2.2B profit. The company reverses its status in red ink a year earlier as the world’s top automaker benefited from a global sales recovery that offset lingering doubts about the safety of its cars.

• FTC says computer buyers benefit from antitrust deal. The Federal Trade Commission is trumpeting its settlement with Intel Corp. as a victory for consumers who have overpaid for computer chips for a decade, though computer buyers shouldn’t expect a sudden drop in prices.