Wall Street shows no big panic at mixed jobs data

America added far fewer jobs in September than expected, but investors didn’t seem too disappointed. Stocks were flat Friday as Wall Street took to some comfort that the unemployment rate continues to drop after the pandemic-fueled spike last year.

The Dow rose about 20 points, or 0.1%, shortly after the opening, but the index alternated between slight gains and declines as the morning wore on.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained about 0.2% before also briefly slipping into the red. But if these three indexes manage to finish the day higher, it will mark the fourth straight day of gains.

Indexes also all remain on track to end the week solidly in green. And the S&P 500 is now just 3% below the all-time high it hit last month.