US markets settle in red on Friday

08 Jan 2022 Evaluate

The US markets settled in red on Friday following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report. While the report showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of December, the unemployment rate still fell by more than expected. The report said non-farm payroll employment rose by 199,000 jobs in December after climbing by an upwardly revised 249,000 jobs in November. Street had expected employment to jump by 400,000 jobs compared to the addition of 210,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Despite the weaker than expected job growth, the unemployment rate slid to 3.9 percent in December from 4.2 percent in November. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 4.1 percent. With the bigger than expected decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since hitting 3.5 percent in February of 2020. Street have indicated the report is not likely to alter the Fed's plans to accelerate monetary policy normalization.

Traders subsequently seem concerned the Fed will be raising rates at a time of slowing economic growth as a result of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. On the sectoral front, housing stocks moved sharply lower amid concerns about the impact of higher interest rates, resulting in a 3.3 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Substantial weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Networking and biotechnology stocks also saw considerable weakness, contributing to the steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the other hand, airline stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 2.9 percent. Steel, banking and energy stocks also saw notable strength, with the continued advance by energy stocks coming despite a pullback by the price of crude oil.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.81 points or 0.01 percent to 36,231.66, Nasdaq dropped 144.96 points or 0.96 percent to 14,935.90 and S&P 500 was down by 19.02 points or 0.41 percent to 4,677.03.

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