The US markets ended in red on Friday, after closing the previous two sessions higher, with the Labor Department releasing a report that showed the pace of job growth slowed by more than expected in the month of December. The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 145,000 jobs in December after spiking by a revised 256,000 in November. Street had expected employment to increase by about 164,000 jobs compared to the jump of 266,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The Labor Department said notable job gains occurred in the retail trade and healthcare sectors, while mining lost jobs. Besides, some cautiousness prevailed in the markets on report that an announcement by the Trump administration of fresh economic sanctions on Iran, following an attack on US military facilities in Iraq that was in retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general by US forces last week.
The sanctions target eight senior Iranian regime officials as well as the nation’s steel, aluminum, copper and iron industries. However, losses remained capped on report that a Chinese delegation is expected to arrive in Washington on Monday to complete a phase-one trade agreement with the US, which has arguably been the most influential driver of stock moves for more than a year. President Donald Trump said he wants a partial trade deal signed by January 15 or shortly thereafter.
Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 133.13 points or 0.46 percent to 28823.77, Nasdaq declined 24.57 points or 0.27 percent to 9178.86 and S&P 500 was down by 9.35 points or 0.29 percent to 3265.35.
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