Wall Street Slips as Weak U.S. Job Growth Data Weighs on Markets

Disappointing payroll figures, sector declines, and falling oil prices pressured U.S. stocks while gold and Asia-Pacific markets gained.

The Dow slid 220.43 points (0.5%) to 45,400.86, the S&P 500 fell 20.58 points (0.3%) to 6,481.50 and the Nasdaq edged down 7.31 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,700.39.

Wall Street saw an early downturn as traders reacted to a disappointing Labor Department report on U.S. job growth. Non-farm payrolls rose by only 22,000 in August, far below expectations, following a revised gain of 79,000 in July. Additionally, June?s data was revised from a 14,000 increase to a 13,000 decline, highlighting weaker labor market momentum.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate inched up by 4.3% in August from 4.2 in July, in line with economist estimates. Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, leading some traders to cash in the early strength amid concerns about the outlook for the economy.

Financial stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index slumping by 1.9% and 1.8%. price of crude oil slumped weighing on oil producer stocks, dragging the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 1.6%. gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 2.5% surge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Steel, biotechnology and housing stocks too were considerably strong, helping to offset the weakness in the aforementioned sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.0%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.2%. The major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.7%, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved sharply higher in reaction to the weaker-than-expected jobs data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, tumbled 9 bps to a five-month closing low of 4.08%.

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