US stocks stabilize a day after sell-off as employers add more jobs to their payrolls

U.S. stocks are stabilizing a day after a steep drop as investors were encouraged by the latest wave of hiring.

Decent earnings reports from several major U.S. companies gave investors more reasons to pick up stocks.

Procter & Gamble, Expedia and LinkedIn all rose after reporting better quarterly earnings than analysts were expecting. PerkinElmer fell after its sales missed analysts' forecasts.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 12 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,550 in the first few minutes of trading Friday. The Dow fell 317 points the day before.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose two points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,933. The Nasdaq composite increased 11 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,380.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.54 percent.