NEW YORK: The Nasdaq edged up while the Dow dipped early Friday after the December US employment report showed somewhat slower job growth but an uptick in wages.
The US economy added a solid 156,000 jobs in December, slightly below analyst expectations. However, the Labor Department report also upgraded the job estimate for November and said average hourly earnings rose to $26.00, up 10 cents from the prior month.
"The key takeaway from the report is that job growth is slowing while wages are rising, which are offshoots of a labor market running near full employment," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 19,853.45, down 0.2 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.1 percent to 2,266.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1 percent to 5,494.52.
Gap shot up 3.1 percent as it bucked a trend of disappointing holiday sales by retailers and said comparable sales rose 2.0 percent in the key November and December period.
JC Penney lost 2.5 percent as it logged a 0.8 percent decline in comparable store sales over the holidays, with women's apparel an especially weak area.
Amgen gained 4.2 percent after a US judge on Thursday blocked sale of the rival cholesterol drug Praluent by French pharmaceutical company Sanofi due to a patent dispute over Amgen's Repatha drug. US shares of Sanofi lost 3.1 percent.
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