U.S. stocks mixed, despite strong jobs report

U.S. stocks opened cautiously Friday despite a strong jobs report that indicated strength in the labor market and a stronger case for an interest rate hike.

The Dow Jones industrial average which has been on a strong rally all week, was down and other indexes, which had been down most of the week, were up

ON WALL STREET: In early trading, the Dow Jones was down 21.4 points, about 0.1 percent, at 19,170.5. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 3.7 points, about 0.2 percent, at 2,194.7. The Nasdaq composite was up 18.5 points, about 0.4 percent at 5,269.4.

OIL PRICES: In early trading, benchmark U.S. crude was up 27 cents at $52.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London on the Intercontinental Exchange Europe, Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oils, gained 31 cents to $54.25 a barrel. Oil prices fell overnight.

Crude futures jumped earlier in the week after the members of OPEC, which collectively produce more than one-third of the world’s oil, agreed to a small cut in production starting in January. “Crude seems to be trying to move to a new trading range each side of $55 a barrel,” said OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley.