US markets end lower on Friday

08 Feb 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Friday, after moving sharply higher over the course of the last several sessions, on lingering concerns about the coronavirus may re-emerge after traders shrugged off the worries about the outbreak. China’s National Health Commission on Friday confirmed more than 31,000 cases of the deadly pneumonialike virus in the country, with more than 630 deaths. The disease also continues to spread outside the country. However, selling pressure was somewhat subdued following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of January.

The Labor Department said employment jumped by 225,000 jobs in January following a revised increase of 147,000 jobs in December. Street had expected employment to rise by 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 145,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The stronger than expected job growth reflected Notable job in construction, healthcare, and transportation and warehousing. Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate inched up to 3.6 percent in January from 3.5 percent in December. Economists had expected the employment rate to remain unchanged.

Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 277.26 points or 0.94 percent to 29102.51, Nasdaq declined 51.64 points or 0.54 percent to 9520.51 and S&P 500 was down by 18.07 points or 0.54 percent to 3327.71.

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