U.S. stocks started with modest gains as hints of an improving labor situation helped to assuage investor fears, at least temporarily, about the struggling economic recovery's ability to create jobs.Investors reacted cautiously to monthly job survey data from Automatic Data Processing that showed private-sector jobs inching up by 42,000 in July, slightly better than expected gains of 39,000 jobs. Gains came mainly from small- and medium-sized businesses, with the largest corporates adding no new workers.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 4 points, or 0.04%, to 10640 in early trading, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index added 1 point at 1122 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 8 points to 2292.Wednesday's jobs numbers offered a sigh of relief ahead of Friday's release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm payroll data, which includes government workers. Forecasters expect a drop of 60,000 due mostly to Census worker layoffs, with unemployment edging upwards in July.Employment is being closely scrutinized by investors, given its importance for consumption.[Read more...]