Stocks open higher as jobs growth beats forecasts

NEW YORK Stock indexes are opening modestly higher on Wall Street after the government reported jobs growth that was better than economists were expecting.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 60 points to 13,133 shortly after the opening bell Friday.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose five points to 1,418 and the Nasdaq composite rose nine points to 2,998.

The Labor Department reported that that U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November, more than economists were expecting.

Overall the jobs survey gave a mixed picture of the economy. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, but only because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed.

The Labor Department also said employers added fewer jobs in October and September than initially estimated.