Major Averages Lingering Near The Unchanged Line In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - After turning lower over the course of the previous session, stocks are showing a lack of direction in early trading on Friday. The major averages have been bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, unable to sustain any significant moves.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes following the release of a Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected U.S job growth in the month of August.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment increased by 142,000 jobs in August compared to economist estimates for the addition of about 225,000 jobs.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, noted that the disappointing data will inevitably spark speculation that the U.S. recovery is coming off the rails but said the weak job growth is probably just an isolated blip.

The data has generated some uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy, with some analysts predicting that the report will reinforce the Federal Reserve's wait-and-see stance.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

While some weakness is visible among biotechnology and banking stocks, commercial real estate stocks have moved to the upside.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 2.76 points or 0.1 percent at 4,565.05, the Dow is down 19.01 points or 0.1 percent at 17,050.57 and the S&P 500 is down 2.21 points or 0.1 percent at 1,995.44.