US STOCKS-Wall St rises 3 pct for week on Friday's slim gain

* Brokerage upgrades offset data; GE up 6 pct * U.S. unemployment rate at 10.2 pct, highest in over 26 yrs * Dow up 0.2 pct, S&P 500 up 0.3 pct, Nasdaq up 0.3 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to close)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose 3 percent for the week after ending Friday's session slightly higher, shrugging off government data showing the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent -- the highest in 26-1/2 years.

General Electric Co (GE.N) jumped 6.2 percent to $15.33 after two analysts' upgrades and helped push the industrial sector higher. The S&P industrial index .GSPI was up 1.2 percent.

In a choppy session Friday, the market fell at the open and briefly turned positive after closer inspection of the report showed payroll losses kept declining and job losses for earlier months were revised lower. For details, see [ID:nN06178752].

"Big-cap stocks are the ones with leverage issues, but they seem to have picked up a lot of interest from investors of late," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.

"We're certainly seeing continued evidence of economic improvement -- except on the employment side -- but even there, perhaps we may have seen about the worst."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 17.46 points, or 0.17 percent, to end at 10,023.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 2.67 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,069.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC added 7.12 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 2,112.44.

For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 rose 3.2 percent, while the Nasdaq climbed 3.3 percent.

Bernstein Research and Oppenheimer upgraded their ratings on GE to "outperform" as they believe there will be major divestitures over the next two to three years. They also see a favorable entry point after the stock underperformed since the middle of October. [ID:nN06538139]

Travelers Cos Inc (TRV.N) gave the biggest boost to the Dow. Shares of Travelers rose 2.5 percent percent to $51.90 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the insurer's stock along with XL Capital (XL.N), which gained 3.8 percent to $17.22, to "buy" from "neutral". [ID:nBNG422402]

The KBW Insurance index .KIX added 1 percent.

But bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N) tumbled 9.7 percent to $35.48 on the New York Stock Exchange after it said its main insurance business remained weak. [ID:nN06174086]

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) jumped 4.6 percent to $126.20 on Nasdaq after Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform" on the belief the company will continue to see growth and margin expansion in the future. [ID:nBNG425822]

JP Morgan boosted Macy's Inc (M.N) to "overweight" from "neutral," citing improving monthly comparable-store sales at the department store operator and a potential for earnings upside. The stock was up 6.4 percent at $19.18.