Investing.com - Wall Street was flat on Friday as investors weighed trade worries and the latest jobs data.
The S&P 500 rose three points, or 0.10%, to 2,830.13 as of 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT), while the Dow increased 34 points, or 0.14%, to 25,361.08 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained five points, or 0.06%, to 7,807.73.
Trade uncertainty continued to weigh on investors minds after reports that the White House plans to propose 25% tariffs, instead of 10%, on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods. China warned it could fire back with tariffs on up to $60 billion of U.S. goods.
Meanwhile, the number of jobs added to the economy was less than expected in June.
Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) rose by 157,000 in July, according to official data released on Friday.
That was lower than the consensus estimate for the creation of 193,000 jobs and the 219,000 positions that the ADP report indicated on Wednesday. But the number of jobs added in the previous two months were revised higher and the market seemed to take the figures in stride.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, surging 1.14%, while Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) rose 4.42% after its earnings came in higher than expected.
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slumped 1.88%, while Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) fell 1.26% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) dipped 0.36%.
In Europe, stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 50 points, or 0.40%, while in France the CAC 40 increased five points, or 0.10%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 57 points, or 0.76%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained six points, or 0.19%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 22 points, or 0.24%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.34% to $1,224.30 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures decreased 0.49% to $68.67 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.06% to 95.06.