Wall Street Steady After U.S. Jobs Report

 Shares on Wall Street were mixed on Friday after the government reported that businesses added fewer jobs than expected last month. The Labor Department said the economy created a net total of 103,000 jobs in December, less than the 145,000 that economists predicted. The unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent, but mostly because many people gave up looking for work and were no longer counted in the labor force.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was unchanged. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was flat, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.66 points.

Bond prices rose, sending yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.38 percent from 3.40 percent late Thursday. The dollar rose 0.3 percent against an index of six other currencies.

The Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke will likely address employment when he testifies about the economy on Capitol Hill Friday. A report on consumer credit will also show whether consumers borrowed more money in November.

European markets were lower. In Europe, the FTSE 100 in London was down 18.73 points, or 0.3 percent, while the DAX in Frankfurt gained 4.82 points or 0.1 percent. The CAC 40 in France was 15.80 points, or 0.4 percent, lower.

The news that the unemployment rate dropped to a 19-month low of 9.4 percent from November’s 9.8 percent seemed to calm any jitters.

“The data breakdown is not as weak as the December headline suggests,” an analyst at Deutsche Bank, Alan Ruskin, said.

The figures, which often set the tone in markets for a week or two, had taken on greater significance following the release of a survey on Wednesday by ADP showing that American employers added a 297,000 private sector jobs in December. That was way up on November’s 92,000 and significantly ahead of market expectations for a 100,000 increase.

The jobs data will continue to be a central factor behind the performance of the economy and on the timing of the Federal Reserve’s exit from super-easy monetary policy

Over recent days, Europe’s debt crisis has taken a backseat to developments in the American economy.

Governments in Germany, France and Portugal have managed to push through bond auctions fairly easily. However, underlying worries remain, not least in Portugal, which is widely considered to be the country most at risk in joining Greece and Ireland in seeking a financial bailout. The yields on its 10-year bonds have spiked up above 7 percent towards the levels that forced the previous bailouts.

Next week, Portugal is planning to sell more bonds, as are Spain and Italy.

“As yields creep up, it will be interesting to see what the market’s appetite is for fresh issues,” said David Buik, markets analyst at BGC Partners.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average edged up slightly — about 0.1 percent — to finish at a fresh eight-month high of 10,541.04. Japanese stocks are benefiting from the recent fall in the value of the yen, which has eased the pressures on the country’s exporters as they battle for business in the international marketplace.