US markets close mostly lower on Friday

06 Aug 2022 Evaluate

The US markets closed the volatile session mostly lower on Friday as traders reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report. The report showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of July, leading to concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 528,000 jobs in July after surging by an upwardly revised 398,000 jobs in June. Street had expected employment to climb by about 250,000 jobs compared to the addition of 372,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. With the stronger than expected job growth, the unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 3.5 percent July from 3.6 percent in June. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

On the sectoral front, oil-related stocks saw significant strength regaining some ground following recent weakness. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surged by 2.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. Considerable strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2 jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Natural gas and banking stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while tobacco and semiconductor stocks moved to the downside.

Nasdaq fell 63.02 points or 0.50 percent to 12,657.56 and S&P 500 was down by 6.75 points or 0.16 percent to 4,145.19, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.65 points or 0.23 percent to 32,803.47.

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