U.S. stocks open mixed on strong jobs data

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Friday as investors were initially cheered over a bright jobs report but tuned to focus on an earlier Fed interest rate hike.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 257,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.7 percent, said the U.S. Labor Department Friday. Wall Street was boosted by such better-than-expected payrolls report.

In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 12 cents to 24.75 U.S. dollars, following a decrease of 5 cents in December. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent.

But traders were also weighing that the Federal Reserve will begin raising rates by mid-year after the favorable jobs data. The Fed has held rates near zero since December 2008, and it reiterated in January a pledge to remain "patient" on raising rates.

In corporate news, Twitter' s shares soared over 14 percent in the early session after the company beat expectations on earnings and revenue, despite disappointing user growth figures. Twitter announced its fourth quarter financial report Thursday after the closing bell. The company' s quarterly revenue was up to 479 million dollars.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 7.72 points, or 0.04 percent, to 17,892.60. The S&P 500 gained 2.08 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,064.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 3.40 points, or 0.07 percent, to 4,761.69.

U.S. stocks jumped amid mixed data Thursday, bringing all the three major indices back to green territory for the year as oil prices bounced back from Wednesday' s plunge. Endite