Stocks jumped Friday in a lightly traded session ahead of a holiday weekend, as investors focused on the positive aspects of a mixed report on the U.S. labor market. Despite the session's gains, the three major indexes ended the week lower. Markets are closed next Monday for Labor Day. U.S. employers cut 216,000 jobs in August, the fewest since August 2008, the Labor Department reported. The unemployment rate, however, rose more than expected to 9.7 percent last month from 9.4 percent in July. Unemployment is expected to surpass 10 percent by the end of the year or early 2010, even as the economy is starting to recovery. While a labor-market recovery usually lags a broader recovery, the rise in unemployment remains Wall Street's biggest economic worry, because without a stronger labor market and increased consumer spending, the economy cannot sustain a rebound. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery rose 6 cents to $68.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and the yen. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.66, or 1 percent, to 9,441.27. Financial components Bank of America and Citigroup gained, as did technology companies Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and IBM. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13.16, or 1.3 percent, to 1,016.40. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 35.58, or 1.8 percent, to 2,018.78. Apple shares rose ahead of its expected unveiling next week of iPod Nano and Touch models that include digital cameras. Apple shares have nearly doubled this year. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 90.53 to 6,637.13. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 29.10 to 1,719.69. And the Russell 2000 index rose 8.01 to 570.50.
