Wall Street opens mixed on Friday, energy sector outperforms

Major equity indexes started the last day of the week in a mixed manner amid the varying performances of major sectors. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.46% on the day, the S&P 500 was adding 0.15%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.05%. 

With crude oil prices staging a decisive rebound in the last couple of hours, the S&P 500 Energy Index opened more than 1% higher to lead the gains. On the other hand, the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index is down 0.85% in the early trade, not allowing a rally in Wall Street.

Earlier today, the data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payrolls increased by 304K in January to surpass the market expectation of 165K. This reading seems to have helped the market sentiment improve with the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, dropping 1.5% in the session.