US stocks near 5-year high over strong jobs data

US stocks rose on Friday, pushing the market to its highest level in nearly five years, after a government report showed that more Americans are going back to work.

The unemployment rate declined to 7.8 per cent, the first time it has gone below 8 per cent in nearly four years. The decline from 8.1 per cent the month before was bigger than economists had expected.

In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 60 points at 13,636. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose five points to 1,467. The Nasdaq composite was up three points to 3,152.

Eight of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by a 1.1 per cent gain for materials stocks.

"We're in rally mode, so slightly positive (unemployment) numbers will do nothing to hinder that," said Ralph Fogel, investment strategist and partner at Fogel Neale Partners in New York.

Stocks were trading at their highest levels in more than four years. Both the Dow and the S&P were above levels last seen in December 2007.

The Labor Department also said employers added 114,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. That was in line with what economists were expecting, but the government also revised its estimates higher for job growth in July and August.

U.S. stocks making noteworthy moves included:

- Apple shares fell $12.02, or 1.8 per cent, to $654.77. Its decline was enough to keep the Nasdaq's gains from keeping pace with other indexes.

- Zynga plunged 50 cents, or 17.6 percent, to $2.32 after the online game maker said that it expects a third-quarter loss due to weak demand and a charge related to an acquisition.

- Dow component Hewlett-Packard rose 9 cents to $15.01 after falling earlier in the day after Moody's Investors Service said it was reviewing its investment-grade credit rating for a possible downgrade after the PC and printer maker cut its profit forecast.

- Avon Products rose 98 cents, or 6 percent, to $17.20 after announcing that its chairman and former CEO Andrea Jung will step down at the end of the year. Jung had come under fire for failing to reverse the company's declines and wrap up a bribery investigation.