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NEW YORK, March 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded mostly higher in the morning session Friday, as the country's nonfarm payrolls report came out much better than expected.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.65 points, or 0.17 percent, to 20,893.84. The S&P 500 added 6.52 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,371.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 21.01 points, or 0.36 percent, to 5,859.82.
U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 235,000 in February, well above market consensus of 188,000, the Labor Department announced Friday. The unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent in February.
In February, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 6 cents to 26.09 U.S. dollars, following a 5-cent increase in January. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 71 cents, or 2.8 percent.
After Friday's jobs report, market expectations for a March rate hike by the Federal Reserve increased to 93 percent from around 90 percent in the previous day, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The U.S. central bank is scheduled to hold its next monetary policy meeting on March 14 and March 15.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks ended higher after the European Central Bank decided to keep key interest rates unchanged. Enditem
