Mid-day: Dow, S&P and Nasdaq fall, employment data underwhelms
By Joseph Toppe
16:53, 8 October 2021
US benchmarks are trading lower on Friday after a US Department of Labor jobs report comes up short.
At 12:35 EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.04%, the S&P 500 was trading 0.11% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite was off by 0.36%.
On Thursday, the Dow improved 338 points, or 0.98% to 34755, the S&P 500 jumped 36 points, or 0.83% to 4400, and the Nasdaq Composite went up 152 points, or 1.05% to 14654.
Employment misfires last month
The US economy added 194,000 new jobs in September, falling below Wall Street predictions as investors eye the Federal Reserve’s cutback to its asset buying programme.
But the blip in hiring is unlikely to bend the Fed's schedule for a “taper” to its emergency market support program, one expert says.
A report issued by the US Department of Labor showed nonfarm payroll employment came up more than 300,000 jobs short of Wall Street expectations. Economists and market analysts predicted 500,000 new positions would be added over the month in this sector alone.
While the job data did not meet expert predictions, US unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% from 5.2% as notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, transportation and warehouse work.
What is your sentiment on AXP?
Friday’s ups and downs
Shares for Apple rebounded 0.1%, while shares for Microsoft improved 0.3%.
Shares for both American Express and Merck are near new buy points on Friday as shares for Tesla dropped over 1%.
Assets
The US oil benchmark was 1% higher to $79.11 per barrel and headed for its seventh-straight weekly gain.
Gold futures were also up slightly at $1,759.80 an ounce, while the ICE US Dollar Index was flat.
Global markets
In European equities trade, the Stoxx Europe 600 sank 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 was flat.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3%, while in China, the CSI 300 index went up 1.3% as markets returned from a multiday holiday.
Read more: US jobs miss not likely to delay Fed’s ‘taper’, expert says
Markets in this article