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U.S. stocks rise on jobs data

NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Friday after news that wage inflation was tamer than expected last month.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 22.89 points to 11,404.04 in mid-morning trading.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.10, or 0.19 percent, to 1,305.92 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.39, or 0.10 percent, to 2,184.14.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 9/32, or $2.81 per $1,000 invested, yielding 4.73 percent. The thirty-year note shed 12/32 to yield 4.904 percent.

Light, sweet crude gained 10 cents to $70.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was at 117.36 yen from 117.44 late Thursday, and the euro was at $1.2762 from $1.2803.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average finished the day 0.04 percent lower, at 16,134.25.

U.S. unemployment rate down to 4.7 percent

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. nonfarm jobs increased by 128,000 in August as the unemployment rate fell slightly, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.

Jobs growth in the previous two months was revised upward to 121,000 in July from 113,000 and 134,000 in June from 124,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.7 percent in August from 4.8 percent in July.

The jobless rate for African-Americans showed the biggest decline, to 8.8 percent from 9.5 percent in July, but was still the highest of any group other than teenagers. The teen jobless rate was 16.2 percent.

Average hourly earnings rose 2 cents to $16.79, following larger gains in the previous two months, but was still up 3.9 percent from a year earlier.

The average workweek dropped by 6 minutes to 33 hours and 48 minutes, the bureau said.

IRS to refund $8 billion in illegal tax

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. taxpayers may claim a $60 refund on their 2006 federal returns as Washington gives back $8 billion in taxes that courts ruled were wrong to collect.

After losing a series of federal court cases, the Internal Revenue Service will refund a 3 percent tax on long-distance telephone charges it first imposed in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Individuals will be eligible for refunds for any long-distance service -- cell phone, fax, computer or landline -- in a 41-month period from Feb. 28, 2003, through July 31, 2006.

Taxpayers will be allowed to claim the maximum refund of $60 without showing copies of phone bills, the IRS said. A line for the refund will appear in the 2006 federal tax return.

Exact refund amounts will vary by how many dependents an individual claims, the IRS said.

Ex-Enron exec seeks to withdraw plea

HOUSTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A former Enron executive has asked a judge in Houston to withdraw his 2005 guilty plea, saying a recent court ruling goes against the charges against him.

Christopher Calger, a former executive in Enron's trading business, says a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, overturning charges against a former Merrill Lynch executive in another Enron case, means his plea can also be withdrawn.

Calger's filing Thursday claims that in overturning the charges against former Merrill Lynch executive William Fuhs, the court "held that a theft of honest services did not occur because the individuals involved were acting in a manner that was in furtherance of Enron's immediate interests," the Houston Chronicle reported Friday.

Calger faces five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he is sentenced Oct. 12.

Prosecutors declined comment but noted they oppose the motion.