US open: Stocks lower following hotter-than-expected NFP reading

By Sharecast News

Sharecast News | 10 Mar, 2023

Updated : 15:20

Wall Street trading opened with losses on Friday as traders digested last month's hotter-than-expected non-farm payrolls report.

As of 1520 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.12% at 32,214.94, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.45% to 3,900.60 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.64% weaker at 11,265.29.

The Dow opened 39.92 points lower on Friday, extending heavy losses recorded in the previous session.

Friday's primary focus will be on February's non-farm payrolls report, which revealed the pace of hiring in the US during came in ahead of market expectations. According to the Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls grew by 311,000 - quicker than consensus estimates for a rise of 225,000.

Payroll growth for the preceding two months was revised down by a combined 34,000, while average hourly earnings, on the other hand, rose by 0.24% month-on-month - short of consensus estimates of a 0.3% print.

"The report will not stop the Fed hiking in March, though it does lower the odds of a 50bp increase, if we’re right about next week's activity data and the CPI/PPI reports - also due next week - being better than in January. That is our base case, so we're sticking to our 25bp forecast," said Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson.

"A further hike in May still seems likely, but we think the Fed is about to add extra hikes to its forecasts just at the point when the data will clearly tell them that further increases are unnecessary. The first hike was only a year ago; the idea that policymakers now can say definitively that that they have not done enough is very odd, given that wage growth - which is what really matters in the employment report - is headed to a sustainable pace. It might already be there."

Elsewhere on the macro front, February's monthly budget statement will be published at 1900 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $153.16 1.27%
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