US STOCKS-Boosted by Apple, Wall Street parties like it's 19,999

* Dow rises as high as 19,999.63

* 156,000 U.S. jobs added in Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) vs forecast 178,000

* All three major indexes hit intra-day record highs

* Indexes up: Dow 0.43 pct, S&P 0.46 pct, Nasdaq (Frankfurt: 813516 - news) 0.72 pct (Updates with detail on Florida shooting, valuations, earnings outlook)

By Noel Randewich

Jan 6 (Reuters) - The Dow came within one point of 20,000 for the first time ever on Friday, boosted by a rise in Apple (Swiss: AAPL-EUR.SW - news) shares and extending a two-month rally fueled by optimism that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's policies will bolster the economy.

All three major U.S. indexes were set to notch record high closes, helped by Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) . The iPhone maker climbed 1.16 percent after Canada's Competition Bureau did not find sufficient evidence it had engaged in anti-competitive conduct, closing a two-year investigation into the company.

U.S. stocks have risen sharply since Trump won the U.S. election in November, with the Dow up 9 percent. While Friday's gains suggested the rally was not yet over, some investors have grown cautious.

"The market's advance is understandable because of the economic stimulus optimism associated with a new Trump presidency," said CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall. "But parabolic market advances traditionally experience digestion of these gains, and I don't think this time will be any different."

The first record high of the year for the S&P 500 followed a U.S. Labor Department report that showed the economy added fewer-than-expected jobs last month but wages increased, suggesting resilience in the labor market.

Stocks did not react significantly to a report that five people were dead in a shooting at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport.

At 2:57 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 84.99 points, or 0.43 percent, to 19,984.28 points. The index rose as high as 19,999.63.

The S&P 500 gained 10.56 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,279.56 and the Nasdaq Composite added 39.75 points, or 0.72 percent, to 5,527.69.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, led by the technology sector's 1.07 percent gain.

The Nasdaq was on track to end the week up 2.7 percent. The S&P 500 headed for a 1.8 percent weekly rise while the Dow was on track to end 1.1 percent higher for the week.

The strength of fourth-quarter earnings reports from U.S. companies over the next few weeks will be closely watched by investors eyeing high stock valuations.

Following its recent gains, the S&P 500 is trading at about 17 times expected earnings, pricey compared to its 10-year average of 14, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Analysts on average expect fourth-quarter earnings to rise 6.1 percent compared to a year before, when slumping oil prices crippled energy companies, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

During the session, Amgen (NasdaqGS: AMGN - news) rose 2.7 percent after a U.S. district judge blocked Sanofi (LSE: 0O59.L - news) and Regeneron from selling their cholesterol drug, which Amgen said infringed its patents. Regeneron fell 5.3 percent and was the biggest percentage loser on the S&P 500.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.02-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.12-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 71 new highs and 14 new lows. (Addtional reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli)