Wall Street fell after a report of slowing US labour market growth, and all three major indexes posted weekly losses as investors braced for more possible downside surprises a day after disappointing earnings from Apple.
The trading session was choppy, with the indexes rising in the morning, then wavering before turning negative. Apple shares were down more than four per cent, weighing down the S&P 500.
On the bond market, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury edged lower in afternoon trading.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty around geopolitical concerns, Ukraine war, (and) China issues”, said Greg Bassuk, chief executive officer of AXS Investments in New York, He said Friday’s decline was “more about investors resetting and positioning for potential downside surprises.”
The Labor Department reported that US employers added 187,000 jobs in July. Data for June additions was revised lower to 185,000 jobs, from 209,000 reported previously.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 per cent in July, unchanged from the previous month, exceeding expectations, taking the year-on-year increase in wages to 4.4 per cent.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark Treasury note dipped after the jobs data, partly boosting some megacap stocks.
Buoying the S&P 500 index, Amazon.com shares rose after the company issued an upbeat third-quarter outlook. Apple’s shares dipped as the iPhone maker forecast a continued slide in sales.
“Those big bellwether companies really have the potential to cause investor jitters even though overall the trajectory and direction of both the economy and corporate earnings seems to be positive moving into August,” said Bassuk.
Shares of other big tech companies, Microsoft, Alphabet and Snowflake all rose after Amazon’s cloud business segment beat sales estimates.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 23.28 points, or 0.52 per cent, to end at 4,478.61 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 50.48 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 13,909.24. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 148.69 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 35,073.53.
The weekly declines for the S&P and Nasdaq were the biggest since March, with some investors taking profits after five months of gains due to economic data, disappointing earnings and rising Treasury yields.
Of the 422 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings as of Friday, 79.1 per cent have surpassed autonomous expectations, according to Refinitiv data.