US stocks mixed on better-than-expected jobs report

US stocks pared early gains and ended mixed on Friday after an initial rally on a better-than- expected jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index hit five-year highs during the early trading session, but gave up the gains shortly before market close. When the market closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.79 points, or 0.26 percent, to 13,610.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged down 0.47 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,460.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 13.27 points, or 0.42 percent, to 3,136.19. The US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate unexpectedly decreased to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest level since 2009. Meanwhile, total non-farm payrolls rose by 114, 000 in September as more Americans took part-time jobs. The figure was 960,000 in August. Adding optimistic sentiment to the market, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Greece next week, a move considered as a remarkable step to prevent a Greek exit from the euro zone. It would be her first trip to the troubled country since the European debt crisis erupted three years ago. However, stocks lost momentum in late trading as investors positioned themselves for the earnings season, which will officially kick off next week with the Dow component Alcoa. Many analysts warned the coming earnings season may be the weakest since the financial crisis. Share price of Apple, the world's largest public company, tumbled 2.1 percent to close at 652.59 dollars, and dragged down the tech-savvy Nasdaq index. For the whole week, the three major indexes followed an upward trend with small corrections. The increases were supported by the coordinated efforts of central banks around the globe to secure economic growth and strings of stronger-than-expected data on U.S. employment and manufacturing, while gains were limited by gloomy expectations on earnings next week and uncertainties in resolving the European debt crisis. In other markets, the US dollar dropped to the lowest level in two weeks against the euro on Friday after the upbeat US jobs report drove investors to riskier assets. In late New York trading, the euro gained to 1.3025 from Thursday's 1.3018. US crude prices Friday fell 2 percent on demand concerns caused by weak global economic growth and lingering concerns over Europe. Light, sweet crude for November delivery lost 1.83 dollars, or 2.00 percent, to settle at 89.88 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.