US markets flat Friday

U.S. stock indexes opened flat Friday after the Labor Department said 96,000 jobs were added to the economy in August. The unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent mostly due to the large number of workers who dropped out of the workforce. Before August, the monthly tally of new jobs for 2012 averaged 151,000 per month. Stocks found support from Europe, where an equities rally was sparked by the European Central Bank's bond-buying program announced Thursday. In midmorning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.86 points, or 0.01 percent, to 13,292.86. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 0.57 points, or 0.02 percent, to 3,136.38. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 3.73 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,435.85. The benchmark 10-year treasury rose 21/32 to yield 1.61 percent. The euro fell to $1.2772 from Thursday's $1.2631. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 78.26 yen from 78.86 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 255 index surged 2.2 percent, 191.08 points, to 8,871.65.