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Market Close: Record-breaking finale

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Investors closed out a terrific week by pushing both the Dow and the Nasdaq to all-time highs. The Dow added 73 points to 11,139.24 while the Nasdaq closed up 35 points to 2,741.01.

For the third day in a row, Internet stocks were mostly higher.

"Now that we think rates are going to stabilize ... people are coming back into the sector," said Alan Loewenstein, an assistant portfolio manager at John Hancock Funds.

June U.S. payrolls increased by 268,000, topping expectations of 220,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate edged up to 4.3 percent from an expected flat 4.2 percent.

The biggest surprise was that average hourly earnings rose a nickel, or 0.4 percent to $13.23. This could be indicative of inflationary pressures, and irk the Fed to tighten interest rates again. But even the super-sensitive bond market shrugged off losses posted right after the report was released, and floated off towards its early close for the holiday.

For the week, the Dow stormed up 587 points while the Nasdaq added 188 points.

America Online Inc. (AOL) moved up 27/8 to 115. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) picked up 1 11/16 to 124 1/16 and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) added 7/8 to close at 178 1/8.

Excite At Home Corp. (ATHM) closed unchanged 54 15/16 while Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) and RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK) closed up 5 1/2 and 12 1/16 a share, respectively. Lycos Inc. (LCOS) bucked the trend, closing off 2 9/16 to 99 13/16.

3D software and hardware maker Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. (ESCC) lost 1 5/8 to 12 3/8 after it said it expects losses.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) closed up 13/16 to 92 after announcing it had inked an agreement with rival RealNetworks. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) rose 11/16 to 38 7/16 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) moved up 1 7/8 to 70 1/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) gained 5/8 to 63 1/2 Friday on word that its $780 million merger with Dialogic Corp. (DLGC) had received regulatory clearance. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) trimmed 3/16 to 17 3/16 and IBM Corp. (IBM) tacked on 1 1/4 to 132 1/4.

Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) closed up 1/2 to 37 1/8. Gateway Inc. (GTW) shot up 1 7/16 to 61 1/2 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) rose 1 to 46 5/16. Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) fell 5/16 to 23 1/4.