US stocks pared early gains and ended mixed on Friday after an initial rally on a better-than- expected jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index hit five-year highs during the early trading session, but gave up the gains shortly before market close.

When the market closed, the Dow rose 34.79 points, or 0.26 percent, to 13,610.15. The S&P 500 index edged down 0.47 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,460.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 13. 27 points, or 0.42 percent, to 3,136.19.

The US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate unexpectedly decreased to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest level since 2009.

Meanwhile, total non-farm payrolls rose by 114,000 in September as more Americans took part-time jobs. The figure was 960,000 in August.

Adding optimistic sentiment to the market, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Greece next week, a move considered as a remarkable step to prevent a Greek exit from the euro zone. It would be her first trip to the troubled country since the European debt crisis erupted three years ago.

However, stocks lost momentum in late trading as investors positioned themselves for the earnings season, which will officially kick off next week with the Dow component Alcoa. Many analysts warned the coming earnings season may be the weakest since the financial crisis.