US markets end lower on Friday

03 Aug 2024 Evaluate

The US markets extend their previous session’s losses and ended sharply lower on Friday. Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to weigh on Wall Street following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of July. The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 114,000 jobs in July after jumping by a downwardly revised 179,000 jobs in June. Street had expected employment to rise by 175,000 jobs compared to the surge of 206,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. With the unexpected increase, the unemployment rate reached its highest level since hitting 4.5 percent in October 2021. 

Some cautiousness also came in reaction to the latest earnings news, with shares of Intel (INTC) plummeting by 26.1 percent after the semiconductor giant reported weaker than expected second quarter results. Online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) also plunged by 8.8 percent after reporting weaker than expected second quarter revenues and providing disappointing guidance for the current quarter. On the other hand, shares of Apple (AAPL) moved to the upside after the tech giant reported fiscal third quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points or 1.51 percent to 39,737.26, Nasdaq dropped 417.98 points or 2.43 percent to 16,776.16 and S&P 500 was down by 100.12 points or 1.84 percent to 5,346.56.  


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