The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday due to profit taking following the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions. Lingering uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election also weighed on the markets as several key states continue to count votes. Democratic nominee Joe Biden now leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia, according to the latest numbers, suggesting the former Vice President is on track to exceed the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House. However, President Donald Trump has claimed the increase in votes for Biden in a number of key states is proof of widespread voter fraud and pledged to take legal challenges to the results all the way to the US Supreme Court.
The early selling pressure was partly offset by a closely watched report from the Labor Department showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of October. The report said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 638,000 jobs in October after surging up by a revised 672,000 jobs in September. Street had expected employment to increase by 600,000 jobs compared to the addition of 661,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dropped to 6.9 percent in October from 7.9 percent in September. The unemployment rate was expected to slip to 7.7 percent.
Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 66.78 points or 0.24 percent to 28,323.40 and S&P 500 was down by 1.01 points or 0.03 percent 3,509.44, while Nasdaq gained 4.30 points or 0.04 percent to 11,895.23.
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