Wall Street ends the week on a bearish note as jobs report fades

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks closed the trading week lower on Friday, as early gains from a jobs report that showed a labor market that may begin to recede gave way to concerns about the European gas crisis. .

Wall Street opened sharply higher after the US jobs report for August showed stronger-than-expected employment, but a rise in the unemployment rate to 3.7% eased some concerns that the Federal Reserve has been too aggressive in raising interest rates as it tries to bring down high inflation. .

However, the gains were erased after Gazprom (GAZP.MM)The state-controlled company that has a monopoly on Russian gas exports to Europe via the pipeline that was due to resume on Saturday said it would only be able to safely resume deliveries after an oil leak found in a vital turbine was repaired and did not offer any new component. Time frame. Read more

“Certainly an afternoon overshadowed by the good data from this morning, the afternoon was stolen from us by those headlines from Europe,” said Zack Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Analysts also pointed to weak trading volumes ahead of the extended weekend helping to exaggerate market moves.

“The setting is important, there has been some optimism about the energy situation in Europe over the past week or so, long-term energy prices have almost halved in some cases, and indications that Germany has nearly 80% of its stock filled with gas, so what is We see it as a slight adjustment in the situation against that background coupled with lower liquidity on Friday afternoon into a weekend,” Hill said.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) It fell 337.98 points, or 1.07%, to 3,1318.44 points. Standard & Poor’s 500 (.SPX) It lost 42.59 points, or 1.07%, to 3,924.26 points. And the Nasdaq (nineteenth) It fell 154.26 points, or 1.31%, to 11,630.86 points.

Markets are closed on Mondays due to the Labor Day holiday.

energy (.SPNY) The only major S&P sector to end the session in positive territory, up 1.81%.

While payrolls beat expectations, average hourly earnings rose 0.3% compared to estimates of 0.4%, while the unemployment rate rose to 3.7% from its pre-pandemic low of 3.5%, indicating that the Fed’s efforts to raise initial interest rates were under way. I started. take effect. Read more

Wage growth data is seen as important to the Fed’s deliberations on raising interest rates as the central bank looks to return inflation, which is at a four-decade high, to its 2% target. Expectations for a third straight rise fell 75 basis points from the central bank at its September meeting to 56%, according to CME. FedWatch Tooldown from 75% the day before.

The focus now turns to August’s consumer price report due mid-month, the last major data available ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting on September 20-21.

Fears of violent policy tightening sent stocks lower after hitting a four-month high in mid-August, with the S&P 500 index (.SPX) It is down 7% since the day before Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments last week about raising interest rates. His views were later echoed by other policymakers.

All three major indices suffered their third consecutive weekly loss, with the Dow Jones down 2.99%, the S&P 500 down 3.29% and the Nasdaq down 4.21%.

Volume on US exchanges was 9.95 billion shares, compared to an average of 10.48 billion for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Low issues outnumbered advanced issues on the New York Stock Exchange by 1.34 to 1; On the Nasdaq, the ratio was 1.65 to 1 in favor of declining stocks.

S&P 500 set three new highs in 52 weeks and 14 new lows; The Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 184 new lows.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajchak) Editing by Jonathan Otis

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