New York ? The stock market had its first winning week in a month thanks to better news on the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 128 points Friday, its fourth straight day of gains. The strong start to September marked a turnaround from a dismal performance in August.

A better-than-expected report on employment Friday was the latest piece of improving news on the economy. Stocks also gained earlier this week following signs that manufacturing was gaining in the U.S. and China.

Even after its four-day run, which added 438 points to the Dow, the index is still 6.8 percent below the 2010 high it reached on April 26. Stocks had eased slightly after a report showed that the services sector didn’t grow as fast as hoped in August.

The Labor Department said private employers added 67,000 jobs in August, more than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast. But that’s still a far cry from what economists say is a healthy level for the economy.

“We need to get that number over 100,000 to feel comfortably that we won’t slip back into recession,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association. “We need it over 150,000 to feel confident we have a nice, sustainable recovery.”

The Dow closed up 127.83, or 1.2 percent, at 10,447.93.

Other notable news in business:

Texas opens inquiry into Google search rankings. Google Inc.’s methods for recommending websites are being reviewed by Texas’ attorney general in an investigation spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet’s dominant search engine.

• A German court ruled Friday that Google Inc.’s subsidiary YouTube LLC must pay compensation after users uploaded several videos of performances by singer Sarah Brightman in violation of copyright laws. The Hamburg state court said the standardized question to users about whether they have the necessary rights to publish material is not enough to relieve YouTube of the legal responsibility for the content, especially because the platform can be used anonymously.