Dow Jones tops 17,000 after jobs report

The Dow Jones industrial average topped 17,000 on Thursday, an all-time high for the index as jobs growth exceeded expectations in June.

The Dow has flirted all week with the milestone, and the June jobs report and record exports lifted it to the record.   

{mosads}Trading closed at 1 p.m. ahead of the three-day July 4 weekend.

Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s 500 neared 2,000, while the Nasdaq hit a 14-year high.

All told, the Dow rose 92.02 points to 17,068.26, the S&P 500 was up 10.82 points to 1,985.44 and the Nasdaq increase 28.19 points to 4,485.93.

Earlier on Thursday, the Labor Department’s latest report showed that employers added 288,000 jobs last month, well above forecasts and the fifth straight month of growth over 200,000.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent, the lowest level since September 2008.

The stock market optimism also fed off of an ADP report showing that private-sector employers added 281,000 jobs in June and the manufacturing and service sectors continued their expansions.