By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks slid on Friday, with
benchmark indexes retreating from records, after the much-awaited
July jobs report fell short of forecasts, which had been rising
after strong U.S. data this week.
The Labor Department reported the economy created 162,000 jobs
in July and the unemployment rate fell to 7.4%. Economists polled
by MarketWatch had forecast growth of 180,000 and some analysts had
grown even more optimistic, calling for a gain of above
220,000.
"The reality of a still-mediocre economy was evident in today's
payroll figure," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the
Lindsey Group.
Moderating a 69-point drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJI) was lately down 34.78 points, or 0.2%, at 15,593.24.
The blue-chip index on Thursday hit an all-time intraday high of
15,650.69 and finished at 15,628.02, its 29th record this year.
A day after clearing 1,700 for the first time, the S&P 500
index (SPX) lost 2.30 points, or 0.1%, to 1,704.57. Read: S&P
500 at 1,700 is a yellow light for Wall Street.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) fell 1.41 points to 3,674.32.
Decliners just outpaced advancers on the New York Stock
Exchange, where 162 million shares traded as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern.
Composite volume approached 813 million.
The dollar (DXY) fell against the currencies of major U.S.
trading partners. Treasurys rallied after the jobs report, sending
the yield on the benchmark 10-year note (10_YEAR) down 9 basis
points to 2.617%.
Crude-oil futures (CLU3) for September delivery fell 85 cents,
or 0.8%, to $107.04 a barrel and gold futures for December delivery
(GCZ3) rose $2.90, or 0.2%, to $1,314.10 an ounce.
The jobs report drew varying views on when the Federal Reserve
would start scaling back its $85 billion in monthly bond
purchases.
The year-to-date private-sector job-growth average of 196,000 is
near the 200,000 level spoken about as meeting the criteria for
reducing those bond buys, said Boockvar. "We'll see in September,"
he added.
The soft employment report should lead to "some soul searching
by those who thought and acted as if reducing long-term asset
purchases next month was a done deal," said Marc Chandler, global
head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, in emailed
commentary.
At the same time the jobs report was released, the Commerce
Department said consumer spending rose 0.5% in June and personal
income was up 0.5%
Another economic report had factory orders rising 1.5% and
shipments falling 0.4% in June.
Movers: Dell, AIG
Dell shares (DELL) advanced nearly 5% after The Wall Street
Journal said founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake, which are
looking to take the company private, were near a deal that would
raise their offer, in exchange for a change in voting rules that
would ensure abstentions aren't counted as "no" votes.
American International Group Inc. (AIG) rose 3% after the
insurer said late Thursday that it'll pay a dividend for the first
time since 2008 and its bottom line beat Wall Street forecasts.
LinkedIn (LNKD) jumped nearly 10% after the company posted
better-than-expected second-quarter results after Thursday's
closing bell.
Shares of Bank of America Corp. (BAC) slid less than 1% after
the Justice Department said it was suing the bank over jumbo prime
securitizations.
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