Stocks fall: S&P 500 in the red, again, for 2015

Stocks lost steam Friday despite Labor Department data showing an improving job market as the S&P 500 moved back into the red for 2015.

With stocks sluggish in earlier trading, investors appeared to be weighing that ostensible good news with the nearing prospect of Fed rate hikes. Then about an hour before the 4 p.m. ET close came news that Greece faces a tight deadline of submitting a new bailout plan. The ECB wants to see Greece's blueprint of dealing with its crippling debt by Feb. 16.

The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each moved to session lows before inching upward a little, ending down in the 0.3% to 0.4% neighborhood.

Gaining about 61 points, the Dow ended at 17,824.29 -- a little more than a point above its 2014 finish. The Nasdaq finished at 4744.40, more than 8 above its 2014 close.

The S&P 500 now stands at 2055.47. It lost 7 points to duck below its 2014 close of 2,058.90.

A huge tech deal was very good news for Exelis investors -- Florida-based Harris is buying the D.C.-area defense contractor in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $4.4 billion.

XLS stock gained 36.3% while Harris (HRS) ended 9.6% higher.

Employers added a better-than-expected 257,000 jobs in January as the resurgent labor market began 2015 on a positive note.

But because more people are entering the job market, the unemployment rate rose to 5.7% from 5.6%, the Labor Department said Friday. The rate had been expected to hold steady, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Economists contacted by Bloomberg had expected employment gains of 230,000, according to their median forecast.

Consensus estimates suggest the economy created 230,000 jobs in January — close to last year's monthly average of 246,000.

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the Fed's first rate hike is nearing and that the central bank will likely be less patient before pulling the trigger.

"The strength of employment growth suggests the Fed should drop its 'patience' language in March and start raising its policy rate by mid-year," Ashworth told clients in a report.

"In general, while it's important not to over-react to one data point, there are exceptions and this is one of them," Ashworth wrote. "Employment growth is clearly on fire and its beginning to put upward pressure on wage growth. The Fed can't wait much longer in that environment, particularly not when interest rates are starting at near-zero."

Benchmark U.S. crude gained 3.1% to $52.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% to 17,648.50 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.4% to 24, 679.39.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 fell 0.2% in Britain. Germany's DAX index lost 0.5%. Greece's ASE index lost 2%, less than in recent trading sessions.

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday. The Dow has rallied 720 points the past four sessions.