The Dow Jones industrials fell as much as 121 points early today before rebounding on news that Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and White House adviser Larry Lindsey had resigned. Analysts said the news offered hope of a fresh approach to bolstering the economy.

"The market doesn't like O'Neill," said Scott Wren, equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons. Investors are hoping to see a replacement "who's going to be more in tune with the global economy in terms of what makes it tick."

The Dow climbed 22.49, or

0.3 percent, to close at 8,645.77, according to preliminary calculations, following a five-day loss of 308 points.

The broader market also finished higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.68, or

0.6 percent, to 912.23, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 11.66, or 0.8 percent, to close at 1,422.41.

For the week, the Dow fell

2.8 percent, to snap its eight-week winning streak. The Nasdaq dropped 3.8 percent and the S&P 500 lost 2.6 percent, ending three straight weeks of gains.

The Labor Department today reported that the nation's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 6.0 percent in November, matching an eight-year high set in April. The number offered a bleaker snapshot of the U.S. economy ­ analysts had forecast a slight increase from the 5.7 percent in October.

"The report shows that while the unemployment rate stays at historically low levels, weak job growth confirms a modest recovery is under way," said Ed Peters, chief investment officer at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston. Still, he said the news is not as bad as it seems, and predicts continued consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activity.

"The recovery remains a buyers market, and Americans are still strong consumers," Peters said.

Analysts say the market's recent declines are not surprising following the previous eight weeks of blue chip gains. They believe many investors are cashing in some profits on worries about corporate profits and a war with Iraq, but will eventually bid stocks higher on hopes of a year-end rally.

"You had two straight months of pretty much 20 percent upside on the averages, and that's not sustainable," said Tony Cecin, director of institutional trading at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis.

Gainers included J.P. Morgan Chase, which climbed 82 cents to $24.43, and Philip Morris, which rose 59 cents to $39.95.

Intel fell 25 cents to $18.71 despite raising its fourth-quarter revenue forecast on stronger sales of its microprocessors.

IBM dropped 74 cents to $82.32 after announcing it would buy Rational Software for

$2.1 billion in cash. Salomon Smith Barney downgraded IBM to "in-line" from "outperform," citing the high price of its stock. Rational rose $2.12 to $10.29.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, rose 2.27 to 396.72.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished 0.6 percent lower Friday. In Europe, France's CAC-40 rose 0.9 percent, while Britain's FTSE 100 dropped