US markets end lower on Friday

04 Jun 2022 Evaluate

Erasing most of their previous session’s gains, the US markets ended lower on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly steep drop. Traders booked profit on Thursday's strong gains, as stronger than expected jobs data offset the faint hopes that the Federal Reserve might slow its planned pace of interest rate hikes. The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report showed job growth in the U.S. exceeded economist estimates in the month of May. The report showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 390,000 jobs in May after surging by an upwardly revised 436,000 jobs in April. Street had expected employment to increase by about 325,000 jobs compared to the addition of 428,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 3.5 percent. The report also showed average hourly earnings rose by $0.10 or 0.3 percent to $31.95 in May. The annual rate of wage growth slowed to 5.2 percent in May from 5.5 percent in April.

A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed by slightly more than expected in the month of May. The ISM said its services PMI dipped to 55.9 in May from 57.1 in April, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 56.4. With the bigger than expected decrease, the services PMI dropped to its lowest level since a matching reading in February of 2021. Moreover, A report on consumer price inflation is likely to be in focus next week along with reports on the U.S. trade deficit and consumer confidence.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348.58 points or 1.05 percent to 32,899.70, Nasdaq lost 304.16 points or 2.47 percent to 12,012.73 and S&P 500 was down by 68.28 points or 1.63 percent to 4,108.54.

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