U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday after solid job growth data for July pried the door open a little wider for a potential interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in September.

Wall Street took the latest signs of an improving economy as a fresh reason to sell shares in a market that has remained range-bound for much of 2015 in anticipation of the Fed's first rate hike in nearly 10 years.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased 215,000 last month, less than the 223,000 forecast by economists, but the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.

U.S. overnight indexed swap rates rose after the jobs data, suggesting traders were pricing a 52 percent chance that rates would be raised in September rather than December, up from 47 percent prior to the data, according to John Briggs, head of cross-asset strategy at RBS Securities Inc in Stamford, Connecticut.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.27 percent to end at 17,373.38. The S&P 500 lost 0.29 percent to 2,077.57 and the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.26 percent lower at 5,043.54.

For the week, the Dow lost 1.8 percent, the Nasdaq dipped 1.7 percent and the S&P edged down 1.2 percent. After hitting a record high in May, the S&P 500 is now up less than 1 percent for the year.

The Visual Marketplace Index lost .85 points, to finish the day at 259.73. Performance in today’s portfolio was largely mixed, with an equal balance of advancing and declining shares.