NEW YORK (AP) – A weak report on the U.S. jobs market sent the stock market sharply lower early Friday. U.S. employers cut back sharply on hiring in September and added fewer jobs in July and August than previously thought.
The news shot government bond prices up, drove the dollar down and rattled stock markets in Europe.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 24 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,899, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 218 points, or 1.3 percent, to 16,054, while the Nasdaq composite declined 61 points, or 1.3 percent, to 4,566.
WAY OFF: The government reported that employers added 142,000 workers last month, much lower than the 200,000 anticipated on Wall Street. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.1 percent, but only because many Americans have stopped looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed. The report raised doubts that the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates this year.
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE: “We see almost no way the Fed can raise rates at its October meeting,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at the brokerage BTIG in New York, in a note to clients. “As a result of this report, investors should rightly be debating whether the Fed can or should raise rates at its December meeting.”