US stocks closed higher Friday helped by a steady December jobs report and unexpected improvement in a key index for the services sector.
At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Index was up 40.06 points (0.30 percent) at 13,431.42.
The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 7.09 points (0.49 percent) to 1,466.46, while the tech-inclined Nasdaq Composite inched up 1.09 (0.04 percent) to 3,101.66.

