US markets close in red on Friday

04 Feb 2023 Evaluate

The US markets recovered from initial weakness but failed to hold it and settled in red on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of much stronger than expected jobs data. The Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report said non-farm payroll employment soared by 517,000 jobs in January after surging by an upwardly revised 260,000 jobs in December. Street had expected employment to increase by 185,000 jobs compared to the addition of 223,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4 percent in January from 3.5 percent in December. The dip surprised economists, who had expected the unemployment rate to inch up to 3.6 percent. With the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level since hitting a matching rate in May 1969. While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has led to concerns the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates higher than currently anticipated.

Earlier in the session, the negative sentiment was partly offset by upbeat service sector data, which generated optimism the economy could be headed for a soft landing. The report from the Institute for Supply Management showed service sector activity rebounded by much more than expected in the month of January. The ISM said its services PMI jumped to 55.2 in January from a revised 49.2 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Street had expected the index to inch up to 50.4 from the 49.6 originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) also weighed on the markets, while Apple (AAPL) moved higher despite reporting weaker than expected quarterly results.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 127.93 points or 0.38 percent to 33,926.01, Nasdaq fell 193.86 points or 1.59 percent to 12,006.95 and S&P 500 was down by 43.28 points or 1.04 percent to 4,136.48.

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