NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street ended higher on Friday as investors digested weaker-than-expected payrolls data.

    A report from the U.S. Labor Department showed that nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 85,000 in December, keeping the official unemployment rate unchanged at 10 percent. Many analysts had hoped Friday's report would show the economy gained jobs.

    The data weighed on the market as creating jobs is critical to sustaining the economic recovery when government stimulus fades.

    Most economists worry that 2010 won't be much better. Federal Reserve officials, in a meeting last month, expressed concern that unemployment will decline "only gradually," according to minutes of the meeting released earlier this week.

    Also on Friday, Shipping giant UPS Inc. said it will cut 1,800 management and administrative jobs, less than 1 percent of its global work force.

    Earlier this week, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said it is cutting 1,200 workers.

    In a separate report, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories grew at the fastest rate in over five years in November and sales climbed strongly, implying businesses were preparing for a healthier economy.

    The Dow Jones was up 11.33, or 0.11 percent, to 10,618.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.29, or 0.29 percent, to 1,144.98 and the Nasdaq gained 17.12, or 0.74 percent, to 2,317.17.

    For the first week of the year, the Dow rose 1.8 percent, the S&P was up 2.7 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 2 percent.