U.S. stocks closed lower Friday, as the December jobs report topped expectations but hourly earnings declined, and investors tracked events in France after Wednesday's massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department reported that the economy added 252,000 to payrolls last month, and the November already robust gain was revised higher, to 353,000. Another economic report had U.S. wholesale inventories climbing 0.8 percent in November, above estimates. The dollar steadied against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery fell 43 cents to $48.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures rose 0.6 percent to $1,216.10. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 170.50, or 0.95 percent, to 17,737.37. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 17.33, or 0.84 percent, to 2,044.81. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 32.12, or 0.68 percent, to 4,704.07.
