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US open: Stocks trade lower following November NFP report

By Iain Gilbert

Date: Friday 03 Dec 2021

US open: Stocks trade lower following November NFP report

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were in the red early on Friday, with a volatile week for markets continuing as market participants digested November's non-farm payrolls report.
As of 1515 GMT, the Dow Industrial Average was down 0.32% at 34,530.52, while the S&P 500 was 0.65% weaker at 4,547.55 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.53% softer at 15,145.38.

The Dow opened 109.27 points lower on Friday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session thanks to a positive performance from stocks tied closely to an economic reopening.

Friday's primary focus was be the November jobs report, which revealed the US economy added fewer jobs than expected throughout November, indicating that hiring had already started to slow before the emergence of the Covid-19 omicron variant.

According to the Labor Department, non-farm payrolls increased just 210,000 month-on-month, well and truly short of estimates for a print of 573,000. However, the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2% from 4.6% and the labour force participation rate increased to 61.8% last month, its highest level since March 2020.

Covid-19 concerns were also still in focus after the opening bell, with the omicron variant now being detected in five US states but symptoms, so far, were said to only be mild.

In the corporate space, shares in vaccine manufacturer Moderna were firmly in the green.

Still to come, last month's ISM non-manufacturing PMI and October factory orders data will were both slated for release at 1600 GMT.

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