U.S. stocks open lower after weak jobs data

U.S. stocks opened lower Friday as nonfarm payrolls data came out much worse than expected.

The U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 38,000 in May, well below the market consensus of 158,000 and notching the fewest monthly job gain in almost six years, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The unemployment rate, however, declined by 0.3 percentage point to 4.7 percent in May.

In May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents to 25.59 U.S. dollars, following an increase of 9 cents in April. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent.

Analysts believed that a June rate hike is off the table after the disappointing jobs report, but July is still possible.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Friday that the goods and services deficit was 37.4 billion dollars in April, up 1.9 billion dollars from 35.5 billion dollars in March, revised.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 86.39 points, or 0.48 percent, to 17,752.17. The S&P 500 fell 9.43 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,095.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 24.69 points, or 0.50 percent, to 4,946.67.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks pared early losses to end mildly higher, as investors meditated on the volatility in oil prices and remarks from the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Endi