U.S. equity indexes were trading higher on Friday at noon after the government revealed much better-than-expected jobs data for November.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 332.63 points to 28,010.42 while the S&P 500 rose 31.15 points to 3,148.58 and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 82.34 points to 8,653.04.

The U.S. added 266,000 new jobs in November, the biggest such increase since January, suggesting a strong labor market. Economists had expected a gain of 180,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, a 50-year low, while average wages edged up 0.2% to $28.29 an hour. Hours worked each week remained flat at 34.4 hours. The Labor Department also revised October’s job gains to 156,000 from 128,000.

“Along with the upward revisions to earlier months, these numbers are telling us that job growth in the U.S. has stabilized,” Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote. “This highlights that conditions remain firmly in place for the consumer and the service sector to cushion the economy from external risks and related weakness in U.S. manufacturing.”

"This was a strong report, with a solid rise in payrolls, another drop in the unemployment rate, and decent growth in hourly earnings," said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial in New York. "The Fed will see this as clear vindication of their decision to stop cutting rates."

Meanwhile, China’s finance ministry said Friday it is working to waive tariffs on imports of U.S. soybeans, cotton, corn, sorghum and pork by domestic companies, a measure that could help to facilitate the larger trade agreement with the U.S.

Larry Kudlow, the White House National Economic Council director, told CNBC the U.S. and China are “close” to a trade pact, vut President Trump could walk away if he doesn’t get terms he wants.

“The president has said many times if the deal is no good, if the assurances with respects to preventing future thefts, if the enforcement procedure is no good he has said we will not go for it. We will walk away,” Kudlow said. “The president has said that if we cannot get the enforcement and the assurances, then we will not go forward.”

But Kudlow added that “the deal is close. It’s probably even closer than in mid-November.”

Kudlow also told Bloomberg TV that there is no single condition that would make or break trade talks with China. He further said there are no arbitrary deadlines on when to reach such a deal.

The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for December jumped to 99.2 -- a seven-month high -- from 96.8 in November, beating most forecasts.

Wholesale inventories in the U.S. edged up 0.1% in October, following a sharp decline in September. However, sales fell by 0.7% in November.

Germany’s industrial output dropped by 5.3% in October, the biggest decline in a decade, stamping out hopes of a manufacturing rebound in Europe’s largest economy.

Uber (UBER), which recently lost its license to operate in London, said it received nearly 6,000 reports of sexual assault in the U.S. in 2017 and 2018. Half of those attacks were perpetrated by passengers.

Overnight in Asia, markets all finished higher. The Hang Seng rose 1.07% while Japan’s Nikkei-225 climbed 0.23% and China’s Shanghai Composite advanced 0.43%

European markets all closed higher with the FTSE 100 up 1.43% while Germany's DAX rose 0.86% and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.21%.

Crude oil futures gained 1.3% to $59.19 per barrel and Brent crude climbed 1.51% at $64.35. Gold futures fell 1.21%.

The euro slipped 0.45% to $1.1054 while the pound sterling was off 0.25% at $1.3126.

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