U.S. stocks rally despite soft jobs data

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to end higher Friday, as the country's weak jobs report raised expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would go slow on future interest rate hikes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79.92 points, or 0.45 percent, to 17,740.63. The S&P 500 added 6.51 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,057.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 19.06 points, or 0.40 percent, to 4,736.15.

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.

"Given Yellen's cautious nature, wait and see is likely what the FOMC will do in June if the May report is weak, but there's a whole month to get through before we find out," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

In corporate news, shares of Yelp Inc. rocketed 23.72 percent to 26.50 U.S. dollars apiece Friday after the U.S. consumer review website operator delivered much-better-than-expected quarterly results.

Overseas, European equities closed mixed Friday. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange rose 0.18 percent, while French benchmark index CAC 40 fell 0.42 percent.

In Asia, Chinese stocks plunged Friday after the country's central bank drained a combined hundreds of billion yuan liquidity from the market. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.82 percent to finish at 2,913.25 points.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.2 percent, and the S&P 500 dipped 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq lost 0.8 percent. Enditem