Friday's Stock Market Open: U.S. Equities Fall Despite Strong Jobs Report

Update: 12:05 p.m. EST

U.S. stocks traded lower at midday on Friday, despite a stronger-than-expected January jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 188.16 points to 29,191.61 while the S&P 500 slipped 9.16 points to 3,336.62 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 14.41 points to 9,557.74.

In Europe markets finished lower, as Britain’s FTSE-100 fell 0.51%, France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.14% and Germany’s DAX slumped 0.45%.

Original story:

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, after reaching record highs on Thursday, despite a stronger-than-expected January jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 113.68 points to 29,266.09 while the S&P 500 slipped 13.34 points to 3,332.44 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 49.02 points to 9,523.13.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Friday the U.S. added 225,000 nonfarm jobs in January (well above economists’ estimates of about 158,000). The unemployment rate edged up to 3.6% from 3.5% as the labor force participation rate inched up 0.2% to 63.4%.

Average hourly earnings rose by 3.1% year-over-year ago to $28.44, marking 18 straight months of wage gains above 3%.

"The solid hiring defies expectations for [a] step down to a slower pace of job growth as businesses delay investment, and exceeded the 175,000 average monthly gain for 2019," Bloomberg commented on the jobs data. "The pace supports Federal Reserve policy makers’ view of the labor market as strong, and is more than sufficient to keep up with population growth."

However, worries continue over the economic impact of the coronavirus plague in China.

As of Friday morning, China’s National Health Commission confirmed 31,131 cases of the virus in the country, with 636 deaths.

U.S. President Donald Trump praised the efforts of China in fighting the virus. “Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China,” he tweeted early Friday. “He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the [coronavirus].”

“The very real risk is that this outbreak spreads, quite literally, into the second quarter and beyond,” warned Sue Trinh, macro strategist at Manulife Asset Management.

Overnight in Asia, markets finished narrowly mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.33%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.33%, and Japan’s Nikkei-225 edged down 0.19%.

In Europe markets traded lower, as Britain’s FTSE-100 fell 0.57%, France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.34% and Germany’s DAX slumped 0.49%.

Crude oil futures dropped 1.1% at $50.39 per barrel and Brent crude slipped 0.62% at $54.59. Gold futures climbed 0.27%.

The euro dipped 0.14% at $1.0967 while the pound sterling rose 0.15% at $1.2948.