US stocks continued to march higher this week, with Dow and S&P 500 flirting with five-year highs. Despite a better-than-expected report on the US job market, stocks faltered late Friday to end mixed. Dow added 0.2% while Nasdaq fell 0.4%. S&P 500 ended little changed. For the week, however, the major gauges all advanced about 1%. Following this year's gains, the Dow and S&P 500 are trading near their highest levels since 2007, while Nasdaq continues to trade at levels that it last hit in 2000. Labor Department's monthly report showed employers added 114,000 jobs in September, better than the 110,000 economists surveyed by CNNMoney had expected. And the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, falling below 8% for the first time since early 2009. Investors are also concerned the U.S. economy could fall off the fiscal cliff of federal spending cuts and tax hikes if Congress fails to act. In addition, the debt crisis in Europe, where Spain and Greece are facing serious challenges, is still a threat. China's economy has also shown signs of slowing down, raising worries about one of the main drivers of global growth. Meanwhile, US government logged a $1.1 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2012 -- marking the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar shortfalls. Federal Reserve said consumer credit increased $18.1 billion in August. Economists had expected consumer borrowing to have increased $5 billion. European markets ended higher. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7%, DAX in Germany added 1.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.6%. USD rose against the euro and British pound and Japanese yen. Crude oil for November delivery fell $1.83 to end at $89.88 a barrel. Gold futures for December delivery dropped $15.70 to settle at $1,780.80 an ounce. The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing up the yield to 1.72% from 1.66%
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