U.S. stocks open lower after soft jobs report

U.S. stocks opened lower Friday as the country's nonfarm payrolls jobs report for April came out worse than expected.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in April, well below the market consensus of 200,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent in April, also missing the market estimate of 4.9 percent.

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents to 25.53 U.S. dollars, following an increase of 6 cents in March. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent.

Analysts thought that the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to stay pat on raising interest rates over the coming months after the disappointing jobs data.

In corporate news, shares of Yelp Inc. spiked over 15 percent in early trading Friday after the U.S. consumer review website operator delivered much-better-than-expected quarterly results.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 73.96 points, or 0.42 percent, to 17,586.75. The S&P 500 lost 7.79 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,042.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 22.10 points, or 0.47 percent, to 4,695.00.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closes narrowly mixed as investors eyed choppy trading in oil market while digesting quarterly earnings reports. Endi