US markets end lower amid concerns about impact of Russian invasion of Ukraine

05 Mar 2022 Evaluate

The US markets extended their previous session’s losses and ended lower on Friday as concerns about the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to weigh on the markets, with Russia ratcheting up its attacks. Russia has reportedly taken control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The Russian attack on the plant had previously caused a fire to break out at the facility, raising concerns about a potential nuclear disaster. Worries about Ukraine overshadowed a typically closely watched Labor Department report showing U.S. employment once again jumped by much more than expected in the month of February.

The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 678,000 jobs in February after surging by an upwardly revised 481,000 jobs in January. Street had expected employment to increase by 400,000 jobs compared to the addition of 467,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate dipped to 3.8 percent in February from 4.0 percent in January. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 3.9 percent. The report also showed a slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth, which economists suggested could lead to less pressure on the Federal Reserve to aggressively raise interest rates.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 179.86 points or 0.53 percent to 33,614.80, Nasdaq dropped 224.5 points or 1.66 percent to 13,313.44 and S&P 500 was down by 34.62 points or 0.79 percent to 4,328.87.

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