WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving mostly higher early in the session, stocks have shown a notable downturn over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower.
Currently, the Nasdaq is down 169.53 points or 1.0 percent at 16,103.85 and the S&P 500 is down 27.43 points or 0.5 percent at 5,129.93. The narrower Dow is posting a more modest loss, edging down 8.01 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 38,783.34.
The early strength on Wall Street came as the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
While job growth in February came in much stronger than expected, the report also showed notable downward revisions to job growth in the two previous months.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 275,000 jobs in February, while economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs.
However, the report also said job growth in December and January was downwardly revised to 290,000 and 229,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 167,000 jobs.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in February from 3.7 percent in January. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.
The downward revisions and the unexpected increase in the unemployment rate combined with a slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth has added to optimism the Federal Reserve will begin lowering interest rates in June.
Buying interest remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to continue buying stocks ahead of the release of key inflation data next week that could have a more profound impact on the outlook for rates.
The subsequent downturn by the markets partly reflects profit taking, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 coming under pressure after reaching new record intraday highs.
AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) has helped lead the pullback on Wall Street, plunging by 5.3 percent after surging by 5.1 percent to a record high in early trading.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks have come under pressure over the course of the session after leading the markets higher on Thursday.
Reflecting the weakness that has emerged in the sector, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has plunged by 3.3 percent.
Considerable weakness has also emerged among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent loss being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.
Computer hardware and airline stocks have also moved to the downside as the day has progressed, while strength remains visible among commercial real estate stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite climbed by 0.6 percent and South Korea's Kospi jumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back near the unchanged line after seeing early strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 4.083 percent.
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