Roundup: U.S. stocks waver amid jobs report, rate hike concern

U.S. stocks wavered and traded mixed this week, as Wall Street digested the much worse-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report, and expected a sharp decline in hiring situation to push back the central bank' s decision to raise interest rates in June.

For the week, the Dow moved down 0.4 percent, and the S&P 500 edged up 0.07 point, or less than 0.01 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 0.2 percent.

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.

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

"On balance, the May employment report wake-up call which justifies putting Fed policy tightening on hold until after the June meeting. In July, the Fed will have a considerably better idea of spending and employment in the second quarter," said Chris Low, the chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

In other economic news, 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.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced 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 CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 1.17 percent to end at 13.47 on Friday.

The central bank's policy making Federal Open market Committee is to meet on June 14 to 15 to discuss whether to raise rate or not. The uncertainty over the timing of a next rate hike has weighed on market sentiment recently.

U.S. economy reported modest growth in April through mid-May, and the tight labor market is pushing up wage and price pressures, according to the Fed's latest Beige Book released Wednesday.

The Beige Book, which gauges its 12 districts' economy, showed that most districts reported modest economic growth in April and mid-May, supported by growth in consumer spending and real estate activities.

"After the release of the Beige Book, one thing became crystal clear to me. The economy has some underlying strengths at this point, while still displaying enough symptoms that one would never declare it to be 'well' ," said Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value.

"In other words, this economy is both too strong to be dovish, and too weak to be hawkish," he added.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said recently that an interest rate hike in the next few months would probably be appropriate if economic data improved.

U.S. personal consumption expenditures increased 119.2 billion U.S. dollars, or 1.0 percent, in April, beating a market consensus of 0.7 percent, the Commerce Department announced earlier this week.

In April, personal income increased 69.8 billion dollars, or by 0.4 percent, and disposable personal income increased 63.5 billion dollars, or by 0.5 percent.

"The first quarter spending slump is now confirmed to be transitory, and the second quarter rebound is now confirmed to be underway. Second quarter real consumption could top 4 percent for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2014," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial. Enditem