US open: Stocks slip after blowout non-farm payrolls number

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Wall Street indices were in the red at the end of the week following the release a blow-out non-farm payrolls report for the month of September.

"The road to a risk-friendly soft landing has always been narrow. Therefore, the central concern following the release of the NFP data is whether the recent growth acceleration would undermine one of the Fed's key mandates," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

"The current NFP readout suggests that progress has significantly stalled on the jobs rebalancing front, and additional actions may be necessary from the Fed."

As of 1508 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials was down by 0.75% to 32,877.38, alongside a 0.86% drop on the S&P 500 to 4,222.20.

The Nasdaq Composite was also lower, by 0.81% to 13,111.82.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was trading 13 basis points higher at 4.837%.

According to the Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls surged by 336,000 in September (consensus: 170,000).

That was on top of a combined 119,000 person upwards revision to the prior two months of data.

But Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the revisions were wholly the result of a correction to seasonal distortions that had now run their course and would not be repeated.

Shepherdson added: "the NFIB points to a continued 175-to-200K private payrolls over the next few months. That’s still pretty strong, but the labor force has expanded by an average of 276K over the past year - mostly thanks to faster population growth - and if that continues, the unemployment rate will trend gradually upwards.

"That in turn will depress the quits rate - which already is back to its pre-Covid level - and wage growth will slow further, easing the pressure on inflation, especially core services."

In company news, Exxon Mobil was making headlines on reports it was close to sealing a $60bn takeover of Pioneer Natural Resources. Exxon's shares were 3% lower while those of Pioneer were up by 10%.

G1 Therapeutics and Apellis Pharmaceuticals were both reacting to ratings changes by JP Morgan. G1 was hit with a downgrade to 'underweight', while Apellis was lifted by an upgrade to 'neutral'.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $519.14 0.56%
American Express Co. (AXP) $147.73 0.44%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $81.13 0.40%
Visa Inc. (V) $234.14 0.28%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $265.58 0.19%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $103.71 0.11%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $157.24 0.06%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $142.98 0.06%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $163.73 -0.09%