The U.S. markets ended lower on Friday, as stronger-than-expected employment data raised concerns that the Fed may raise interest rates. The Labor Department released a closely watched report showing that employment increased by much more than expected in August. The report said non-farm payroll employment surged by 162,000 jobs in August are rising by an upwardly revised 21,000 jobs in July. Street had expected employment to climb by 55,000 jobs compared to the loss of 23,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, traders remained cautious ahead of next week’s reports on consumer and producer price inflation for August.
On the sectoral front, software stocks fell sharply after giving up gains from Thursday’s session, pushing the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index down 2.2%. Gold stocks also weakened as gold prices dropped significantly, sending the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down 1.8%. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks also declined, while semiconductor stocks rallied strongly, lifting the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index by 3.4%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 271.86 points or 0.51 percent to 53,414.25, S&P 500 decreased by 29.11 points or 0.38 percent to 7,718.60 and Nasdaq dropped by 77.07 points or 0.29 percent to 26,506.99.
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