Stocks jumped in early trading after the Labor Department said employers added 203,000 jobs last month, greater than the 180,000 economists had forecast.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,850 in the first hour of trading.

Stocks were mixed in early trading as investors weighed encouraging news about the economy against weaker holiday shopping sales.

Good news in the drug industry is pushing the stock market deeper into record territory.

The Dow has been on fire lately, propelled higher by a combination of solid corporate earnings, a steadily strengthening economy and easy-money policies from the Federal Reserve.

Stocks edged mostly higher in early trading on Monday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial further into record territory.

Stocks held near record highs in early trading Wednesday amid excitement over Twitter's market debut and after U.S. economic growth accelerated in the third quarter to the fastest pace in a year.

The Dow reached its latest record of 15,746.88 with some help from Microsoft. Other indexes also gained, but not as much.