Market close: Employment data boosts stocks

Technology stocks closed out the week with decent gains Friday as the Nasdaq composite picked up 28 points to 4,234.27. A tame employment report affirmed the conventional wisdom that the U.S. economy is cooling off. The Labor Department showed the unemployment rate edged up to a slightly higher-than-expected 4.1 percent in August versus 4.0 percent in July. "This is exactly the soft landing that (Fed Chairman) Alan Greenspan wants," said Bill Cheney, chief economist for John Hancock funds. Full story. -- Larry Barrett, ZDNet Inter@ctive Investor