NEW YORK - Buyers have returned to Wall Street after two days of heavy losses as investors, while mindful of the economy's growing problems, are looking for beaten-down stocks.

Stocks closed at their high of the session in light trading as investors showed relief that a bad report on unemployment wasn't worse. The market briefly came off its highs after President-elect Obama reiterated that there is a great deal of hard work to be done to restore the economy to health.

The Dow Jones industrials are up 248, or 2.9 percent, at the 8,943 level. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.9 percent, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 2.4 percent.

The indexes are still showing heavy losses for the week after a 10 percent decline over Wednesday and Thursday.