NEW YORK — Most U.S. stocks ticked higher on Friday, sending Wall Street to more records.

The S&P 500 edged up by less than 0.1 percent to close out its seventh winning week in the last nine, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 238 points, or 0.5 percent. Both added to their all-time highs set the day before. The Nasdaq composite lost an early gain and slipped 0.3 percent from its own record.

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Usually, the first Friday of each month has Wall Street transfixed on the monthly jobs update that the U.S. government publishes. It shows how many jobs employers created and destroyed, while also updating the unemployment rate.

Such data is particularly important now, given how much on Wall Street is riding on the expectation that the job market is continuing to sl

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