A strong November jobs report boosted stocks across the board while investors awaited an imminent interest rate cut. The Dow surged 111 points to 13,359 while Nasdaq jumped 40 points to 2659.

On the upside

Shares of hard drive maker Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) rose after the hard drive maker boosted its earnings outlook for the current quarter.

Interdigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) was awarded $134 million in royalties against Samsung's 2006 sales of 2G terminal units.

An analyst upgraded Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) as a long-term buy due to valuation despite lowered subscription growth targets.

On the downside

Shares of Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) tumbled after the cable operator lowered its revenue targets due to increased competition and a slowing economy.

Shares of First Marblehead (NYSE: FMD) fell to a new 52-week low as the credit crunch affected its portfolio of education loans.

Investors were unimpressed with the 2008 outlook for R.H. Donnelley (NYSE: RHD) despite higher advertising projections and an announced stock buyback.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rose 9 points to 761.