U.S. stocks trade mixed after strong jobs report

U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Friday, as Wall Street mainly digested the nonfarm payrolls report for April.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 11.76 points, or 0.06 percent, to 20,939.71. The S&P 500 rose 2.61 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,392.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.74 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,078.08.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 211,000 in April, better than market estimates, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent, said the Labor Department on Friday.

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to 26.19 U.S. dollars. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 65 cents, or 2.5 percent.

Investors had been looking forward to the April jobs report after March's numbers disappointed Wall Street.

Traders kept a close eye on the nonfarm payrolls to gauge whether the U.S. central bank could stay on its current path towards monetary policy normalization.

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rates unchanged earlier this week as it waited for more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook. But the Fed policymakers hinted at the possibility of a June rate hike.

Market expectations for a June rate hike were 78.5 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool on Friday. Endit