U.S. stocks tick up after jobs report

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to trade higher around midday Friday, as Wall Street pondered over the country's non-farm payrolls report for December.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.26 points, or 0.31 percent, to 19,960.55. The S&P 500 added 8.62 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,277.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 35.20 points, or 0.64 percent, to 5,523.13.

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.

In a separate report, the apartment said that new orders for manufactured goods in November decreased 11.3 billion dollars or 2.4 percent to 458.3 billion dollars, following four consecutive monthly increases.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed mixed, with the Nasdaq Composite Index eclipsing previous closing record, as investors digested a batch of economic reports. Enditem