US stocks mostly up after jobs data, OPEC cut

Wall Street stocks were mostly higher early Friday after US employment data showed slowing jobs growth as petroleum-linked shares jumped on an OPEC supply cut.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 percent at 25,038.43.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.2 percent to 2,702.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 7,179.86.

The US economy added 155,000 jobs in November, below analyst expectations, while unemployment held steady at 3.7 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

Analysts said the mixed data may reduce impetus for the Federal Reserve to keep hiking interest rates.

Worries that the Fed might tighten monetary supply excessively have been a source of stock market volatility, including Thursday when the Dow fell almost 800 points at session lows.

Although the Fed is still expected to lift rates later this month, analysts increasingly believe it could pause in 2019.

The Dow was led by ExxonMobil and Chevron, which jumped 2.4 percent and 3.2 percent, amid a surge in oil prices following reports that OPEC and non-OPEC crude producers had agreed to slash crude.

jmb/it