NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks moved moderately lower in early trading Friday after a report showed that U.S. job creation slowed last month.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 69 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,343 as of 10:06 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 14 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,900 and the Nasdaq composite fell 56 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,454.
JANUARY JOBS: U.S. employers added 151,000 jobs in last month, a sharp deceleration from recent months as companies shed education, transportation and temporary workers. On the positive side, the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent, the lowest level since February 2008. Average wages jumped 2.5 percent over the past year to $25.39 an hour, evidence that the past years of job growth are helping to generate larger pay raises.
DOLLAR STRENGTH: The jobs report, while less than what economists were looking for, still showed the U.S. economy is growing, albeit slowly. The report caused the dollar to strengthen against other currencies, reversing some of the last two days of declines. Investors had been betting a slowing U.S. economy might cause the Federal Reserve to stall their plans to raise interest rates.
ENERGY: The price of oil retreated. U.S. crude fell 38 cents to $31.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 12 cents to $34.36 a barrel in London.