U.S. stocks slipped in choppy trading on Friday after a robust jobs report stoked fears of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to keep inflation in check.

The Labor Department's closely awaited data showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 372,000 jobs in June, higher than the estimated rise of 268,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

The report also showed jobless rate remained near pre-pandemic lows at 3.6% and average hourly earnings rose 0.3%, after gaining 0.4% in May.

"There was a growing consensus that a dovish pivot could be relatively imminent in the next few months and today's data threw cold water on that," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.

"Unless inflation really starts to drop, the Fed is going to have to keep the pedal to the metal for tightening in the near term."

After a brutal first half of the year, U.S. stock markets started July on a solid footing as investors took relief from easing commodity prices and the Fed hinting at a more tempered program of rate hikes amid concerns of a recession.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recorded their fourth successive higher close on Thursday, while the three main indexes were on track to post weekly gains.

"If you can keep the labor market solid while hiking rates and bring down prices, then, perhaps you can manage what the Fed has been trying all along, which is a soft landing," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.

With the earnings season around the corner, investors will focus on company forecasts as well as key inflation data expected next week to gauge the health of the economy.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, until recently among the central bank's most dovish policymakers, said on Friday he "fully" supports another 75-basis-point rate rise later this month.

At 12:44 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68.42 points, or 0.22%, at 31,316.13, the S&P 500 was down 16.72 points, or 0.43%, at 3,885.90, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 73.27 points, or 0.63%, at 11,548.07.

Levi Strauss rose 0.7% after the company's second-quarter results beat estimates, helped by strong demand for its denim jeans and jackets.

Twitter Inc fell 4.3% after a report said Elon Musk's deal to buy the social media company is in "serious jeopardy".

GameStop Corp tumbled 4.8% after the video game retailer said it had terminated the employment of Chief Financial Officer Michael Recupero.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and 29 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 16 new highs and 38 new lows.