Stocks rise after better-than-forecast jobs report

NEW YORK -- Stocks rose in early trading after the federal government reported an unexpected increase of 146,000 jobs in November.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58 points, or 0.5%, to 13,133 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,417. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was essentially flat at 2,990 points.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported the payroll bump Friday morning, announcing as well the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%.

Economists had predicted a more downbeat jobs report because of disruptions caused by Superstorm Sandy, which slammed into the East Coast in late October.

A measure of consumer confidence, however, came in lower than expected. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 74.5 in December from 82.7 the previous month.

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