Friday's early afternoon trade: Indexes up on robust hiring data

Wall Street indexes gained on Friday as US employers added more jobs than expected in November, cementing the case for an interest rate hike next week and adding to optimism about the economy heading into 2018. Technology stocks such as Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet led the gains, extending their recovery from losses earlier in the week.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 228,000 jobs last month amid broad gains in hiring as the distortions from the recent hurricanes faded, Labor Department data showed. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls to rise by 200,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent in November after dipping 0.1 percent the prior month, but was still below the estimated 0.3 percent rise. "The headline number of 228,000 new jobs was above consensus estimates, but wage growth still remains sluggish," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
At 12:25 pm ET (1725 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 92.82 points, or 0.38 percent, at 24,304.3 and the S&P 500 was up 12.91 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,649.89. The Nasdaq Composite was up 43.70 points, or 0.64 percent, at 6,856.54.
Gains in equities were also helped by an overnight divorce deal between Britain and the European Union, which paved the way for arduous talks on future trade ties. Microsoft rose 1.5 percent, AbbVie 2.3 percent and UnitedHealth 1.6 percent, the biggest boosts to the S&P 500.