By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks slid on Friday, with
benchmark indexes retreating from records and curbing weekly gains,
after the much-awaited July jobs report fell short of
forecasts.
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 47.09 points, or 0.3%, at 15,580.93.
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 3.70 points, or 0.2%, to 1,703.17. Read: S&P
500 at 1,700 is a yellow light for Wall Street.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) fell 3.9 points, or 0.1%, to
3,671.84. The technology heavy index ended on Thursday ended at a
more-than 13-year high of 3,676.78, nearly 1,400 points from its
all-time closing high of 5,048.62 set on March 10, 2000.
For every three stocks climbing, four fell, on the New York
Stock Exchange, where 205 million shares traded as of 11:20 a.m.
Eastern. Composite volume surpassed 1.1 billion.
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 2.623%.
Trading in some Treasury futures contracts came to a brief halt
just ahead of Friday's jobs report, after big orders hit,
triggering a five-second pause, the CME Group Inc. confirmed.
Crude-oil futures (CLU3) for September delivery fell $1.21, or
1.1%, to $106.68 a barrel and gold futures for December delivery
(GCZ3) rose $1.40, or 0.1%, to $1,312.60 an ounce.
The jobs data drew varying views on when the Federal Reserve
would start scaling back its $85 billion in monthly bond
purchases.
"Today's report keeps the debate open about the timing of Fed
action to taper the bond-buy program," offered Fred Dickson, chief
investment strategist at Davidson Companies.
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 Inc. (DELL) advanced 5.3% 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 2.1% 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 Corp. (LNKD) jumped 11% after the company posted
better-than-expected second-quarter results after Thursday's
closing bell.
Shares of Bank of America Corp. (BAC) slid 0.8% after the lender
disclosed that the Justice Department may sue the bank over jumbo
prime securitizations.
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