Stocks jump after better news on unemployment

— -- Stocks soared to new highs for the year Friday after investors got reassuring news from the employment front.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 113.81, or 1.2%, to 9,370.07 after the government said unemployment fell for the first time in 15 months in July. Employers cut 247,000 cuts, much fewer than expected.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% from 9.5% in June. Economists forecast the rate would rise to 9.6%.

Meanwhile, thanks to big jumps in stocks in the broadcasting, real-estate investment trusts and homebuilding industries, preliminary figures show the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 13.40, or 1.3%, to 1,010.48.

Tech continues to be strong; the Nasdaq composite index rose 27.09, or 1.4%, to 2,000.25.

The gains by stocks this year have been head-turners. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 6.8%, 11.9% and 26.8% respectively.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 114 points to cap its fourth straight weekly gain. The Dow is at its highest level since early November.

With the pop Friday, the S&P 500 index is up 14.9% in only four weeks and 49.4% from a 12-year low in early March.

For the week, the Dow added 2.2%, the S&P 500 index rose 2.3% and the Nasdaq rose 1.1%.

The market's biggest fear, jobs, is now shifting to missing out on the market's rally, says Todd Clark of Nollenberger Capital. "Higher (stock) prices are forcing people back in who may have not caught this thing," he says. "They have to show they're participating. It forces people's hands."

Many investors, who have doubted the market's rally and waited for a pullback, are losing reasons to be skeptical, says Todd Salamone at Schaeffer's Investment Research. The jobs number "was reason for some (investors) to buy into the rally instead of waiting for a pullback," he says.