Wall Street loses ground after mixed jobs data

US stocks edged lower on Friday after data showed employment in December rose less than expected but a rebound in wages suggested sustained growth in the labour market.

The public and private sectors together added 156,000 jobs last month, a US Labor Department report showed, compared with 204,000 jobs added in November.

Average hourly earnings increased 10 cents, or 0.4 per cent , after slipping 0.1 per cent in November. That pushed the year-on-year increase in average hourly earnings to 2.9 per cent , the largest increase since June 2009.

Unemployment rate ticked up to 4.7 per cent .

The report adds to a recent spate of robust economic data across sectors including manufacturing and automobiles. This, coupled with President-elect Donald Trump's pledge for fiscal stimulus, could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates faster than anticipated.

"Wage growth is firming up and if we get over 3.0 per cent , the Fed would feel a lot more comfortable to raise rates further," said Craig Dismuke, chief economist at Vining Sparks in Memphis, Tennessee.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting released on Wednesday showed that almost every Fed policymaker agreed Trump's measures could call for a faster move on rates. The central bank currently expects to raise rates thrice this year.

The dollar rose to session highs against major currencies, while gold slipped.

At 9:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50.45 points, or 0.25 per cent , at 19,848.84, the S&P 500 was down 4.31 points, or 0.19 per cent , at 2,264.69 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 3.73 points, or 0.07 per cent , at 5,484.21.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with telecom services losing the most by 2.11 per cent . Financials gained 0.1 per cent , while healthcare was flat.

Wal-Mart fell 1.2 per cent at $68.41 after the company said Rosalind Brewer, chief executive officer of its warehouse club stores Sam's Club, would retire from on Feb. 1.

Amgen gave the biggest boost to the S&P, rising 4.9 per cent , after a US district judge blocked Sanofi and Regeneron from selling their cholesterol drug, which Amgen said infringed its patents. Regeneron was off 5.3 per cent and was the index's biggest per cent age loser.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,645 to 919. On the Nasdaq, 1,279 issues fell and 964 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed five new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 21 new highs and five new lows.