NEW YORK: US stocks dipped in early trade Friday despite better-than-expected official data showing that job creation surged and the unemployment rate fell a fourth straight month in December.
At 1530 GMT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 53.66 points (0.43 percent) at 12,362.04.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 4.72 points (0.37 percent) to 1,276.34, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite pared 2.86 (0.11 percent) to 2,667.00.
The Labor Department data on the jobs situation in December showed 200,000 net jobs created and the jobless rate falling to 8.5 percent from a revised 8.7 percent in November.
The data of recent weeks "have been signaling firmer labor market conditions, and now they're here," said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics.
"The gains are broad-based, with strength in construction, manufacturing, retail, leisure and education," he said.
Bank of America fell back 3.7 percent after a big jump Thursday on rumors that the government was preparing a plan to boost the housing market that would aid banks weighed down by huge portfolios of bad mortgage loans.
Alcoa fell 2.5 percent despite its announcement late Thursday that it would shutter a big chunk of its global smelting capacity to pare costs as aluminum prices sag.
Netflix jumped 4.3 percent after releasing figures showing a rise in use of its streaming video service and amid ongoing speculation it could be bought by a larger media company.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.96 percent from 1.99 percent on Thursday, while the 30-year rose fell to 3.03 percent from 3.06 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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