U.S. stocks open higher on sluggish job growth

U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday with weaker-than-expected job growth.

In the early exchanges, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 77 to 11,320. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 9 to 1,289 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 19.93 to 2,112.27.

The Labor Department said on Friday that U.S. nonfarm (manufacturing or service industries) payrolls rose by 113,000 in July after a revised 124,000 gain in June, well beyond economists' expectations of around 143,000 payroll gains in July.

Economists have viewed the nonfarm payroll report of July as a critical document which could help predict whether or not the Fed will raise rates again on Aug 8.

The gain in payrolls is in line with the average job growth of 112,000 in the second quarter, which is a slower trend than the 176,000 job pace in the first three months of the year.

The weak labor market raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will conclude that it does not have to raise interest rates next week.

Source: Xinhua