Stocks close mixed after volatile session

• Wall Street keys in on whether jobs report will give pause to Federal Reserve tapering
• Syria%2C G-20 meetings in spotlight for global investors
• Sharp losses for Japan stocks%2C European shares move higher

Stocks were mixed Friday and closed relatively flat after a rocky session that was marked by volatile swings up and down in the major indexes.

Traders weighed a mixed jobs report for August and tensions between the U.S. and Syria.

The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.98 points, 0.1%, to 14,922.50 after briefly rising above 15,000 for the first time intraday since Aug. 26.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat, rising just 0.09 tp 1,655.17 and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 1 point to 3,660.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 500 gained 1.4% and the Nasdaq advanced 2%.

The Dow initially rose at the open on optimism that the August employment report was weak enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to hold off reducing its massive monthly bond purchases.

In August, the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.3% in August and added 169,000 nonfarm jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was weaker than many economists expected.

The early gains were hit by a sell-off in the first hour of trading, triggered by reports from the G-20 leaders summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, that Vladimir Putin said Russia would assist Syria if the United States launches a military strike against the Middle East nation.

The losses moderated after President Obama laid out his case again in a St. Petersburg press briefing why he thinks the U.S. and others should take action in Syria.

The Dow climbed as high as 15,010 before falling back in late afternoon trading.

The yield on the bellwether 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.93% after topping 3% Thursday for the first time in 26 months, reflecting the view that the report, while not a disaster, was weaker than expected and may give the Federal Reserve pause before it begins tapering its massive monthly bond-purchasing program.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said job growth for July was revised down and the drop in the jobless rate was mostly due to job seekers giving up on finding a job, not from job growth, the Labor Department's monthly report said.

Economists had expected the U.S. economy to add 180,000 jobs in August. The report is likely to play some role in influencing the discussion at the Fed's next policy-making session set for Sept. 17-18. The Fed has said throughout the summer that if job growth is strong enough the central bank might be able to start dialing back its $85 billion a month in purchases of mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries later this year.

U.S. markets finished higher Thursday after data showed jobless claims declined in the last week of August and the ADP Research Institute said the private sector added 176,000 jobs in August.

The Dow closed 0.1% higher at 14,937.48. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 1,655.08. The Nasdaq added 0.3% to 3,658.78.

Syria's civil war and whether the U.S. will launch a punitive strike against President Bashar Assad's regime for an alleged chemical attack against civilians remains a huge worry for investors. At the Group of 20 summit of world leaders in Russia, President Obama has so far failed to amass much support for military intervention.

"Market mood should remain healthy though Syria will be a lingering concern as G-20 concludes," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong in a market commentary.

In Asia Friday, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 204.01 points, 1.5%, to close at 13,860.81. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 23.25 points, 0.1%, to end at 22,621.22.

European markets were higher. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 14.89 points, 0.2%, to close at 6,547.33 and Germany's DAX index rose 40.69 points, 0.5%, finishing at 8,275.67. France's CAC 40 jumped 42.39, 1.1%, to end at 4,049.19.

Benchmark crude oil for October delivery jumped $2.05 to roughly $110.45 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Contributing: The Associated Press