Stocks edge higher on mixed jobs report for August

NEW YORK — A mixed report on job losses and unemployment for August is nudging stocks higher.

Stocks are gaining following a Labor Department report showing a slower pace of job losses but also an increase in the nation’s unemployment rate to 9.7 percent — the highest since June 1983.

The jobless rate was more than expected, but the 216,000 payroll reductions were less than analysts had forecast.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 27 at 9,371. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 4 at 1,008. The Nasdaq composite index is up 11 at 1,994.

Trading volume is light ahead of the long Labor Day weekend.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) — A mixed report on job losses and unemployment for August nudged the stock market higher Friday.

Stocks edged up after the Labor Department reported a slower pace of job losses last month but also an increase in the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent — the highest since June 1983.

Analysts had been expecting the rate to increase to 9.5 percent after unexpectedly dipping to 9.4 percent in July. Most economists expect the unemployment rate to top 10 percent by early next year.

The report also showed that employers cut 216,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 276,000 lost in July and better than the 225,000 figure analysts had been expecting. It was the lowest level of job losses in a year.

Rising unemployment is widely seen as the economy’s biggest hurdle to recovery, and concerns about it have been weighing on the stock market. As long as job losses remain high, consumers won’t feel comfortable about spending money, which the U.S. economy badly needs in order to resume growth.

“When you put it all together, you’re seeing improvement in the labor market, but we have a ways to go before we’re actually adding jobs,” said Jack Bauer, senior economist at Manning & Napier.

Stock trading has been erratic over the past few weeks as a six-month rally loses steam and investors worry that the market’s rise of as much as 50 percent since March was overdone. The absence of many traders during Wall Street’s summer slowdown has also exaggerated the market’s moves.

The market staged a modest rally late Thursday after a four-day losing streak that erased two weeks’ worth of gains. Traders were hoping that the monthly jobs report, one of the most closely watched economic indicators, would provide more clarity about where the economy was heading. But the mixed data seemed to confirm what investors were already thinking — that the labor market remains on a slow and difficult path to recovery.

“While the headline number was a bit better than expected, that unemployment rate … that’s just really bad news,” said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets in Chicago.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.45, or 0.1 percent, to 9,358.06. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.89, or 0.3 percent, to 1,006.13, while the Nasdaq composite index added 8.24, or 0.4 percent, to 1,991.44.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a relatively low 296.2 million shares compared with 387.5 million shares traded at the same point Thursday.

Bauer said that since the unemployment report was not that far off of expectations, the market will likely meander Friday, especially with trading volume being light ahead of the long Labor Day weekend. Markets are closed Monday.

Bond prices mostly fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.38 percent from 3.35 percent late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices retreated after hitting a six-month high of near $1,000.

Light, sweet crude fell 63 cents to $67.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.84, or 0.3 percent, to 560.65.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.3 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.2 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 added 1.1 percent.