Stocks Mixed After Solid Jobs Gain

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are mixed Friday morning after their worst loss in three months and bond prices continue to sink. The Labor Department said the economy continues to add jobs at a strong pace. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has soared over the last three days and hasn't been this high since mid-2011. That has some investors concerned that spiking interest rates could slow the economy.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,903 as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 6 points to 26,634. The Nasdaq composite lost 19 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,860 as technology companies continued to struggle. The Russell 2000 index was unchanged at 1,646.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent Thursday. While that was its biggest loss since late June, it could have been worse: stocks were down almost twice that much before a late rally.

IT'S A LIVING: The Department of Labor said employers added significantly more jobs in July and August that it previously thought, which made up for a slightly disappointing gain in September. The September total was probably reduced by the damage Hurricane Florence did to the Carolinas.

Employers have added 190,000 jobs on average over the last three months, and the employment rate fell to its lowest level since December 1969.

Friday's data suggest the economy should keep growing at a strong clip, which means corporate profits should continue to grow. That's a good sign for stocks. At the same time, there are few signs of a big increase in the pace of growth or inflation. Either of those would push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a faster pace, which would start to slow down the economy.

BONDS: Bond prices kept falling. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.22 percent from 3.19 percent. The yield on the 10-year Treasury is an important benchmark for longer-term interest rates and it hasn't been this high since July 2011.

The drop in prices and increase in yields have led to big gains for banks in the last few days because higher interest rates mean they make bigger profits on mortgages and other loans. Bond yields in Europe also rose.

LEADERS: Financial and industrial companies have climbed in recent days and they continued to climb Friday. Lincoln National gained 5 percent to $70.85 and General Electric jumped 4 percent to $13.16.

Several major banks will report their third-quarter results late next week as the next round of company earnings gets underway.

The sell-off in technology and internet companies and retailers continued. Intel lost 1.1 percent to $47.63 and Netflix lost 2.78 percent to $353.62. Goodyear Tire & Rubber slid 2.5 percent to $22.66.

OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX lost 0.8 percent and so did the CAC 40 in France. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1 percent.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 percent and the Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.6 percent to $74.74 a barrel in New York and Brent crude, the standard for international oil futures, fell 0.5 percent to $84.14 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 113.72 yen from 113.86 yen. The euro rose to $1.1538 from $1.1515.

(BE)