US stocks mixed on dour jobs report

U.S. markets were mixed Friday after the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate dropped to 7.3 percent in August on the addition of 169,000 jobs. The report was met with little cheer, as the lower unemployment rate was mostly attributed to people dropping out of the workforce, rather than people finding jobs. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 14.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,922.50. The Nasdaq gained 1.23 points, or 0.03 percent, to 3,660.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.09 points, or 0.01 percent, to 1,655.17. On the New York Stock Exchange 1,754 issues advanced while 1,286 declined on total volume of 3 billion shares traded. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 204.01 points, or 1.45 percent, to close at 13,860.81. In Europe, the British FTSE 100 index added 14.89 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 6,547.33. On currency markets, the euro fell to $1.3178 and the dollar fell to 99.13 yen. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold added $15.30 to $1,388.30 per troy ounce and silver gained 62 cents to $23.88. The 10-year U.S. treasury note rose 17/32 to yield 2.934 percent. In after hours trading, crude oil was up $1.83 cents to $110.20 per barrel on the NYMEX. On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn for December delivery added 6 cents to $4.67 per bushel. November soybeans added 3 1/2 cents to $13.71 per bushel. Wheat for December gained 7 cents to $6.47 1/4 per bushel.