US STOCKS-Wall Street climbs after 2-day decline; focus on jobs data

(Adds Micron shares lower, closing levels for the week)

* Investors look to payrolls data due on Good Friday

* Most S&P 500 sectors higher

* CarMax (NYSE: KMX - news) rallies on results

* Indexes up: Dow 0.4 pct, S&P 0.4 pct, Nasdaq 0.1 pct

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks bounced on

Thursday after two days of declines following encouraging data

on the labor market, but mixed data this week kept investors on

edge before Friday's key payrolls report.

The consumer discretionary sector, as measured by the S&P

consumer discretionary index, was the day's

best-performing sector. The index rose 0.9 percent, helped by

gains in CarMax. The stock jumped 9.3 percent to $74.73

following stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment

benefits unexpectedly fell last week. The report

followed lower-than-expected readings on private sector

employment and manufacturing on Wednesday.

The data has given a mixed picture of the economy ahead of

the March jobs report, due on Friday, when the stock market is

closed for the Good Friday holiday. Stock investors will be

unable to trade off the report until Monday.

The Federal Reserve has said it will not raise interest

rates until it deems the economy strong enough to withstand such

a move, which will raise borrowing costs and possibly crimp

spending. A below-consensus jobs number on Friday could ease

concerns of a nearer-term rate rise, strategists said.

For the week, the S&P and Dow each rose just 0.3 percent,

while the Nasdaq dipped 0.1 percent.

"It's safe to say there's quite a of bit of uncertainty in

the market and you're kind of seeing that translate into a lot

of volatility with not a lot of direction," said Joe Bell,

senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in

Cincinnati.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65.06 points,

or 0.37 percent, to 17,763.24, the S&P 500 gained 7.27

points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,066.96, and the Nasdaq Composite

added 6.71 points, or 0.14 percent, to 4,886.94.

Micron Technology (NasdaqGS: MU - news) shares lost 1.5 percent to $26.72,

a day after the company forecast lower revenue for the current

quarter.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE: MSI - news) fell 6.2 percent to

$62.51. A Bloomberg report, citing people with knowledge of the

matter, said the company has failed to find a buyer after

seeking to raise interest from private equity funds and large

industrial companies.

The S&P energy index ended up 0.2 percent despite

lower crude prices. Oil fell after a preliminary pact between

Iran and global powers on Tehran's nuclear program, although

officials set further talks in June and analysts questioned when

the OPEC member will be allowed to export more crude.

The release of the U.S. monthly jobs report has coincided

with Good Friday only four times since 1999, according to data

from Bespoke, most recently in 2012. Analysts expect 245,000

jobs added in the month, down from 295,000 in February.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on Thursday on

the NYSE by 1,923 to 1,101; on the Nasdaq, 1,643 issues rose and

1,092 fell.

The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and three new lows;

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 104 new highs and 35 new lows.

About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges,

below the 6.4 billion daily average for the last five trading

sessions, according to BATS Global Markets.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Leslie Adler)