U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Friday, as investors did not think much of July's jobs report. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department reported that employers added 162,000 jobs in July, the fewest since March, which resulted in the lowering of the unemployment rate to a four-and-a-half year low of 7.4 percent. The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in June compared with May, when spending was up 0.2 percent. It was the best gain since a 0.7 percent rise in February. Separately, the Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose 1.5 percent in June compared with May, when orders had risen 3 percent. The gains pushed total orders to a record $496.7 billion. In corporate news, Dell founder Michael Dell sweetened a buyout deal he and Silver Lake Management made for the PC maker. Toyota reported a 94 percent jump in quarterly profit, helped by a weaker yen. Viacom also reported a jump in quarterly revenue and profit. LinkedIn shares surged after it reported better-than-expected results and boosted its full-year forecast. Hewlett Packard shares jumped, but it was unclear what was behind the move. The dollar rose against the pound and the yen but fell versus the euro. Light sweet crude oil for September delivery dropped 95 cents to $106.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures lost 70 cents to $1,310.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 30.34, or 0.19 percent, to 15,658.36. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.8, or 0.16 percent, to 1,709.67. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 13.85, or 0.38 percent, to 3,689.59.
