Posted: Friday, 06 November 2009 4:34PM Stocks Post Modest Gains As Job Losses Slow

Stocks ended modestly higher in light trading as investors found some positives for the market in a surprisingly weak jobs report. The Labor Department's report Friday that unemployment has risen above 10 percent for the first time since 1983 isn't welcome news but it did reassure investors that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates lower. The pace of job losses is also slowing. The Dow Jones industrials are up 18 at 10,023. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 3 at 1,069, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 7 at 2,112. Major stock indicators jumped 3 percent for the week. Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 1.1 billion compared with 1.3 billion Thursday.

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