NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were essentially flat early Friday as markets weighed the implications for monetary policy of a better-than-expected US jobs report.
The US economy added 199,000 jobs in November, while the jobless rate ticked down to 3.7 percent from 3.9 percent, according to government figures.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 36,135.35.
The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.1 percent to 4,588.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell less than 0.1 percent to 14,335.87.
Wall St mixed as traders assess economic data, megacaps rebound
The solid jobs report comes on the heels of other labor data this week that had suggested a cooling in the job market.
The figures likely reflect a boost from workers returning to the job after labor strikes, but could also lead the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer.
“This delivers a reality check to financial markets as the bond and equity markets have rallied strongly over the past month on increasing expectations that the Fed would start to cut interest rates in Q1,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist of Nationwide.
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