Stocks close higher on jobs optimism

(MarketWatch) -- Investors pushed stocks up for the fourth day in a row, sailing into the long weekend on a high note as an encouraging jobs report sent stocks to their best pre-Labor Day week in two decades.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 10,448, +127.83, +1.24%) finished up 127.98 points, or 1.24%, to 10447.93, putting the Dow up 2.9% on the week -- its first positive weekly showing since the beginning of August. The Dow also edged back into positive territory for the year.

The market leaped after nonfarm payrolls data showed jobs slowing at half the rate predicted by economists. The Labor Department said the U.S. lost 54,000 jobs last month, about half of what economists had expected and matching the level of revised losses recorded the previous month.

The unemployment rate, calculated using a separate household survey, edged up to 9.6%, as expected, from 9.5% for the previous two months. (more)