Appleton, 51, head of the mid-sized chipmaker, was the only person in the plane when it crashed in Boise, Idaho, near the company's headquarters, according to local media reports.

"Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large," Micron's board of directors said in a statement.

The Idaho Statesman newspaper said local emergency dispatchers received reports of Appleton's small single-engine Lancair plane on fire before it crashed between two runways at the Boise airport around 9:00am local time (1600 GMT).

Despite the accident Micron shares were up 3.0 percent in afternoon trade, carried by a strong market overall.

-afp

The Dow jumped 156.82 points to 12,862.23, its highest mark since May 19, 2008, about four months before Lehman Brothers investment bank collapsed. In May 2008, credit markets were tightening up, subprime mortgages were going sour and Bear Stears had already collapsed.

Before the market opened, the Labor Department said the economy added 243,000 jobs in January. It was the strongest job growth in nine months. The increase in hiring pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009.

The surprising data gave financial markets a morning jolt that lasted throughout the trading day. The Nasdaq index closed 45.98 points higher at 2,905.66, its highest since December 2000, during the steep decline that followed the dot-com stock bubble.

The price of ultra-safe Treasury notes dropped, sending yields higher, and the price of oil rose for the first time in a week.

"In this economy, only one variable matters right now, and that variable is employment," said Lawrence Creatura, an equity portfolio manager at Federated Investors. "This report was great news. It was beyond all expectations, literally. The number was higher than even the highest forecast."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 19.36 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,344.90, its highest close since last July. The S&P 500 surged 2.2 percent for the week, its fifth straight week of gains. That's the longest weekly winning stretch since January of 2011.

James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said the jobs report seems to be evidence that the US economy isn't as vulnerable to a shock from Europe as many had feared. If that's true, then investors should be willing to pay more for stocks.

More evidence that the economy is gaining strength followed the jobs report. A trade group said the service industry expanded at the fastest pace since last February. The government also said factory orders rose 1.1 percent in December, supported by a rebound in orders for heavy machinery.

Bank of America led the 30 stocks in the Dow, rising 5.2 percent. Only two stocks were lower: Merck and Procter & Gamble.

Treasury prices fell, lifting the yield on the 10-year note Treasury to 1.93 percent. When bond prices fall, yields rise. The benchmark 10-year rate had traded below 1.79 percent earlier this week as traders bought US Treasurys on renewed concern over Europe's ongoing debt crisis.

The US jobs figures helped markets in Europe rally yesterday despite further evidence that the 17-country eurozone is heading for recession. Germany's DAX closed 1.7 percent higher, and France's CAC-40 gained 1.5 percent.

Worries over Europe's debt troubles still have the potential to send markets reeling in the months ahead, Creatura said. He expects the S&P 500 to continue surging but still hit patches of turbulence from Europe in the coming months.

"It's not over yet," he said. "Even though it appears our aircraft is taking off, you should still keep your seatbelt fastened."

US benchmark crude increased by US$1.48 yesterday to end the week at US$97.84 per barrel. It was the first time since Jan. 26 that the price of crude ended the day higher.

Brent, used to price international varieties of crude, rose by US$2.51 to finish at US$114.58 per barrel.

Prices rose after the government reported that the US economy added 243,000 jobs in January. That was the biggest increase since April of last year, when 251,000 jobs were created. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent - the lowest in three years.

The positive US jobs data added to evidence that the world's largest economy - and biggest user of gasoline - is growing stronger. Manufacturing grew in January at the fastest pace in seven months. Factory orders rose in December by 1.1 percent, driven higher by big increases in spending on industrial machinery and autos.

The US economic reports suggest the, "economy is in recovery with fewer jobless claims, more people on payrolls, higher equities prices, brisk car sales, and high travel bookings," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.

Oil prices had fallen 3 percent during the first four days of the week. They were pushed lower on reports that US fuel demand continues to fall behind where it was last year. The 4-week average for gasoline demand is down 7.3 percent. Last year, American drivers used nearly 3 percent less gasoline than they did in 2010.

Yestserday's employment report led investors to believe that gasoline demand could eventually rebound. Gasoline futures, which gauge where traders think prices are headed, rose by 4.55 US cents to end at US$2.9144 per gallon.

In other energy trading, heating oil added 6.15 US cents to end at US$3.1144 per gallon and natural gas fell by 5.5 US cents to finish the week at US$2.499 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Hong Kong, the No. 1 market for Swiss watches, contributed 410 million Swiss francs to its global sales, followed by the United States with 190 million Swiss francs and the Chinese mainland with 160 million Swiss francs, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said.

Watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs saw a 22 percent rise in exports even though the Swiss franc soared to a record high against the euro in August before the Swiss government moved to contain its over-heated appreciation.

Switzerland's watch exports are expected to continue double-digit growth this year, with Chinese consumers the main driving force, the federation said.

Watches have become one of the most popular luxury purchases for China's wealthy. Consulting firm Bain & Co estimated in December that watch sales in China may have soared 40 percent last year, the highest growth rate across all luxury product categories due to aggressive brand marketing.

The top 5 brands accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total 22.5 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) in sales in 2010.

But of the total 212 billion yuan in luxury purchases by Chinese consumers last year, up to 60 percent were made overseas, Bain & Co said.

They expected this trend to continue this year, as it found that more than half of China's luxury spending abroad was motivated by lower prices or better product selection. Increasing travel opportunities and the yuan's buying power may further encourage consumers to shop outside the Chinese mainland.

Customers from the Chinese mainland spent up to US$7.2 billion on luxury goods abroad during the recent weeklong Lunar New Year holiday with Europe their top destination, the World Luxury Association said earlier this week.

Domestic demand for luxury products is being held in check because of import tariffs and consumption taxes, which can make luxury goods 72 percent more expensive on the Chinese mainland than in France, the association said.

The net earnings of Chinese manufacturers expanded 31.5 percent from a year earlier to 790 billion yuan (US$125 billion) in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Last year's manufacturing profits totaled 5.45 trillion yuan, up 25.4 percent annually, which was faster than the pace of 24.4 percent in the first 11 months. But the rate was still significantly weaker than 2010's 50 percent.

"China's manufacturing activities seem to be gathering momentum again," said Li Maoyu, a Changjiang Securities Co analyst. "It is largely the result of healthy domestic demand, and the profit growth is likely be sustainable amid a stabler economy."

But Xue Jun, an analyst at CITIC Securities Co, warned that shrinking external demand would continue to threaten China's industrial companies.

"The eurozone debt crisis shows no sign of recovery, and the Chinese currency may accelerate in appreciation, making exports more expensive," Xue said.

He expected some fluctuations in China's industrial production over the next few months.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index, a comprehensive gauge of manufacturing activities, edged up 0.2 points from December to 50.5 last month.

Above 50 indicates expansion and it was the second month in a row the index showed improvement in China's manufacturing activities.

To consolidate the position, Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, suggested China should introduce more easing policies.

The central bank allowed banks to put aside less capital as reserves in early December. It also ordered lenders to give more financial support to small and medium-sized companies.

Such moves bolstered market liquidity, and some analysts expect January's new yuan loans would show a rise to 1.15 trillion yuan, compared to December's 640.5 billion yuan.

Private businesses remained the driving force of the gain in profits last year with their profits surging 46 percent from a year earlier to 1.66 trillion yuan.

Earnings of foreign-invested businesses and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan rose 10.6 percent to 1.4 trillion yuan, while state-owned enterprises said their profits rose 15 percent to 1.49 trillion yuan.

The industrial profit figures cover companies with annual sales of at least 20 million yuan in 39 industries.

He declined to say what the funds will be used for.

According to the regulation, manufacturers must cease producing, selling or importing defective vehicles and recall them upon identifying problems.

They are also obliged to take prompt remedies, such as providing repair, exchange and refund services.

That's up 25 percent from the 10 million barrels of daily capacity that the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimated China held in 2011.

The nation's average refinery size will rise to at least 6 million tons a year by 2015, according to the plan published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on its website yesterday.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.77 percent to 2,330.41 points, the highest level since December 7.

The benchmark climbed 0.49 percent for a third weekly gain, the longest since July 15.

Investors who maintained a wait-and-see stance during the previous market consolidation regained confidence after the China Securities Journal yesterday said big shareholders of listed companies had added 2.39 billion yuan (US$379 million) to their holdings this year ahead of earnings reports.

On the other hand, the central bank has suspended the new issue and repurchase of bills for a fourth week on Thursday to offset the liquidity tightening effects of the expiration of its nearly 400 billion yuan bill reverse repurchase program before the Spring Festival holiday.

Lenders gained on speculation of another bank reserve requirement ratio cut. China Construction Bank rose 0.83 percent to 4.89 yuan. The state-run Central Huijin Investment Company has agreed to let major banks, in which it holds stakes, cut their cash dividend ratios to improve capital adequacy.

Property developers recovered from overselling triggered by worries over cash flow. Poly Real Estate gained 1.14 percent to 10.68 yuan. Gemdale Group added 1.5 percent to 5.4 yuan.

Meanwhile, Guo Shuqing, head of China Securities Regulatory Commission, urged securities exchanges across the country to clear up unregulated trading before July. This also helped prop up stock prices.

According to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing, Qi Yumin, chief executive officer of Brilliance Auto, has reduced his stake three times since January 11 by a total of 4.5 million shares - cashing in nearly HK$40 million (US$5.2 million).

Also during January 11 to 13, other top executives, including Chairman Wu Xiaoan, offloaded 2.25 million shares for HK$20.43 million, while Lei Xiaoyang, non-executive director, gained HK$905,000 through the sale of 100,000 shares.

The stock reduction has been widely followed by independent investors from January 18 when the news was made public, causing its share price to plunge 9 percent to HK$7.90.

Industry analysts said the stake cut by Brilliance Auto's top management potentially suggests that management believes the share price has peaked in the near term.

Brilliance Auto has been upbeat over the past few years as its performance was boosted by booming sales of Chinese-made BMW cars with expanded product offerings.

Brilliance Auto yesterday rose 3.1 percent to HK$8.38 in Hong Kong trading.

Premier Wen Jiabao made the remarks while meeting with Chinese and German businessmen on the sidelines of a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Wen said China's previous lack of environmental protection and sustainable development resulted in the excessive exploitation of rare earth metals, which were then sold for low prices.

"Although we now know that we must develop rare earth metals sustainably, we can still afford to meet 90 percent of global demand with less than 50 percent of the world's reserves," Wen said.

He said Chinese and foreign companies face the same standards in terms of environmental protection and ecological sustainable development.

Rare earth metals are a group of 17 elements that are widely used in high-tech products.

China's rare earth metal export quota for 2012 has been largely unchanged from that of 2011. The country's rare earth metal exports totaled 14,750 tons during the first 11 months of 2011, meeting just 49 percent of that year's quota.

The total trade volume between China and Germany amounted to US$169.1 billion in 2011, Wen said.

It is important for economic and trade relations between the two sides to be totally equal and mutually beneficial in light of the gloomy global economy, Wen said, adding that new opportunities exist for Sino-German cooperation.

He called on both sides to further expand two-way investment and boost cooperation in the areas of technology, energy conservation and environmental protection by holding a more open attitude and combining advantages.

Merkel said Germany has the desire to further expand investment in China and welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Germany. She also expressed her hope that both sides can explore new fields for cooperation and boost bilateral economic cooperation.

In a preliminary performance statement, the 285 companies listed on ChiNext, China's Nasdaq-style board in Shenzhen, estimated that profit growth would fall to 17.7 percent in 2011 from 31.2 percent in 2010.

ChiNext was launched in October 2009 to help new, innovative enterprises fundraise, but investors have realized that the growth potential of these companies was not as high as they had hoped.

ChiNext's performance was worse than that of the main boards on the Chinese mainland in January. Its benchmark dropped 11.08 percent in January while the key indexes tracking the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen surged 4 percent.

ChiNext companies are smaller so are more prone to the economic slowdown, analysts said.

Sales dropped 0.4 percent in the month after a similar decrease in November, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said yesterday.

Economists had forecast a gain of 0.3 percent, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Sales slipped 1.6 percent from a year earlier.

European households may cut spending as governments step up austerity measures to contain the region's fiscal crisis just as companies start to eliminate jobs. Eurozone unemployment held at 10.4 percent in December.

"The decline in euro-area December retail sales confirms our view that private consumption is likely to have fallen in the fourth quarter, contributing to a contraction in euro-area gross domestic product of 0.3 percent quarter on quarter," said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets in London.

Nonfarm payrolls jumped 243,000, the US Labor Department said yesterday, the most since April and beating economists' expectations for a gain of only 150,000.

Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 8.5 percent. The rate has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August.

The decline last month reflected large gains in employment in the separate household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived. Meanwhile, fewer people left the labor force.

Job gains last month were widespread, with even the transportation and warehousing sector increasing payrolls.

The tenor of the report was further strengthened by revisions to November and December payrolls data, which showed 60,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

In addition, average hourly earnings rose 4 cents, which should help to support spending. The report suggested that expectations of a slowdown in US economic growth in the first quarter were not yet impacting on companies' hiring decisions.

The continued labor market improvement could be a relief for US President Barack Obama who faces a tough re-election. The US Federal Reserve last week said it would probably hold interest rates near zero at least through 2014, citing still-high unemployment.

Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed was mulling further purchases to speed up the recovery, but the last employment numbers could cause policymakers to step back. The US central bank has already bought US$2.3 trillion in bonds to keep rates low and spur the economy.

Employment in the private sector surged 257,000 - the largest gain since April. Government payrolls fell 14,000, the least amount since September.

The US economy grew 2.8 percent in the final three months of 2011, against 1.8 percent in the third quarter.

The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, an indicator of service industry vitality, scaled back to 52.9 last month from December's 56, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday.

A reading above 50 means expansion, while one below 50 indicates contraction.

"Consumer demand for services remained robust in January, but higher prices refrained them from unscrupulous spending. New orders and new export orders both fell," said Cai Jin, vice president of the federation.

But Cai said further reform and more favorable taxation policies would promote stable growth in the service industry as well as in consumer demand.

The federation's report, based on a survey of about 1,200 companies in 20 non-manufacturing industries, showed the input price index of service providers rose to 58.6 in January, 1.2 points higher than a month earlier. Industries such as accommodation, catering, railway transport and aviation charged much more compared with December.

The real estate industry index continued to retreat amid a cooling property market, the report showed.

In comparison, the headline Business Activity Index, compiled by HSBC to gauge China's service sector, was unchanged at 52.5 in January from December, signaling a solid expansion of business activities in the sector.

Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, however, warned about the potential risks of higher labor costs in China.

"Overall economic growth remained relatively weak, which will inevitably weigh on the job market if the weakness persists for longer," Qu said. "With inflation on track to ease further, China's policymakers still have ample room for more policy easing measures to ensure a soft landing."

Qu suggested another reserve requirement ratio cut to bolster liquidity.

Beijing-based distributor Rainbow Medical Equipment and Supplies Co demanded compensation of nearly 15 million yuan (US$2.37 million) from the two defendants in a Shanghai court.

Rainbow said it signed a one-year distribution contract with the two defendants on January 2, 2008, under which Rainbow was allowed to sell Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon suturing products to hospitals in certain areas of Beijing.

The contract stipulated that Rainbow could not sell the products below prices set by the defendants.

In March 2008, Johnson & Johnson's Shanghai branch found Rainbow privately selling the suturing products below minimum prices to win distribution rights in hospitals outside its jurisdiction.

The company deducted Rainbow's guarantee deposit of 20,000 yuan on July 1, 2008. It also stopped delivering its products to Rainbow from August 15, 2008.

Rainbow accused the two defendants of violating China's Anti-Monopoly Law, which took effect on August 1, 2008.

Johnson & Johnson Medical argued the contract was signed before the Law came into effect and claimed Rainbow was party to benefits during the contract period.

The court did not announce a verdict yesterday.

Net earnings of Chinese manufacturers expanded 31.5 percent from a year earlier to 790 billion yuan (US$125 billion) in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

The data also showed that last year's manufacturing profits stood at 5.45 trillion yuan, up 25.4 percent annually and compared with the pace of 24.4 percent in the first 11 months of last year.

"China's manufacturing activities seem to gather momentum again," said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. "It is largely thanks to healthy domestic demand, and the profit growth is likely to be sustained amid a stabler economy."

The official Purchasing Managers' Index, a comprehensive gauge of manufacturing activities, edged up 0.2 points from a month earlier to 50.5 in January.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion and it was the second month in a row for the index to report improvement, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said earlier this week.

Net earnings of Chinese manufacturers expanded 31.5 percent from a year earlier to 790 billion yuan (US$125 billion) in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

The data also showed that last year's manufacturing profits stood at 5.45 trillion yuan, up 25.4 percent annually and compared with the pace of 24.4 percent in the first 11 months of last year.

"China's manufacturing activities seem to gather momentum again," said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. "It is largely thanks to healthy domestic demand, and the profit growth is likely to be sustained amid a stabler economy."

The official Purchasing Managers' Index, a comprehensive gauge of manufacturing activities, edged up 0.2 points from a month earlier to 50.5 in January.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion and it was the second month in a row for the index to report improvement, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said earlier this week.