S&P 500 Index opens modestly lower after dismal US jobs report

Wall Street's main indexes trade in the negative territory on Friday.
Nonfarm Payrolls in the US rose less than expected in August.
S&P 500 Real Estate Index is the biggest decliner after the opening bell.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the US opened slight lower on Friday after the August jobs report painted a gloomy picture regarding the US labor markets. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was down 0.15% on the day at 4,530, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling 0.2% at 35,378 and the Nasdaq Composite was losing 0.1% at 15,310.

The monthly data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday that Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 235,000 in August, compared to analysts' estimate of 750,000. On a positive note, the Unemployment Rate edged lower to 5.2% from 5.4% in July as expected and July's NFP got revised higher to 1.05 million from 943,000. Finally, the Labor Force Participation Rate remained unchanged at 61.7%.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Real Estate Index is down 0.52% as the largest decliner in early trading. On the other hand, the Energy Index is posting small gains supported by a modest increase seen in crude oil prices.

S&P 500 chart (daily)

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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