U.S. stocks open mixed after job report

U.S. stocks opened narrowly mixed Friday, as Wall Street pondered over the newly released non-farm payrolls report for December last year.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 156,000 in December, missing market consensus of 175,000, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the Labor Department announced Friday.

In December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased 10 cents to 26.00 U.S. dollars, after edging down by 2 cents in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.9 percent.

"Treasury yields are higher this morning on the combination of tepid job growth and faster-than-expected wage inflation. The two together suggest it is becoming more difficult to find employees," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the goods and services deficit was 45.2 billion dollars in November, up 2.9 billion dollars from October's revised reading.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 4.02 points, or 0.02 percent, to 19,895.27. The S&P 500 climbed 0.14 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,269.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.10 points, or 0.07 percent, to 5,492.04.@ On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed mixed, with the Nasdaq Composite Index eclipsing previous closing record, as investors digested a batch of economic reports. Endi