U.S. stocks end higher after downbeat jobs report

U.S. stocks rallied Friday, as investors believed that the possibility of a September rate hike became lower following the release of a disappointing nonfarm jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.66 points, or 0.39 percent, to 18,491.96. The S&P 500 added 9.12 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,179.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 22.69 points, or 0.43 percent, to 5,249.90.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in August, well below market consensus of 175,000, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 3 cents to 25.73 U.S. dollars.

Investors closely watched the jobs report as they looked for more clues about when the Federal Reserve may raise rates.

In the past weeks, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer have both indicated that a rate increase could occur within the next three months in an effort to resume normalization of monetary policy.

However, a weaker-than-expected August jobs report eased fears that the Fed would begin its next rate hike as soon as September, since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to meet on Sept. 20-21.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Friday that the goods and services deficit was 39.5 billion dollars in July, down 5.2 billion dollars from 44.7 billion dollars in June, revised.

For the week, all three major indices posted modest gains, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq going up 0.5 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Enditem