U.S. stocks retreat on weak jobs data

U.S. stocks declined in the morning session Friday, as the country's nonfarm payrolls data came out much worse than expected.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56.29 points, or 0.32 percent, to 17,782.27. The S&P 500 lost 9.63 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,095.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 34.93 points, or 0.70 percent, to 4,936.43.

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.

The U.S. non-manufacturing index registered 55.7 percent in May, 2.8 percentage points lower than the May reading of 55.7 percent, the Institute Supply Management reported Friday.

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. Endit