U.S. stocks sold off on Friday, with the S&P 500 erasing its 2025 gains, after an upbeat jobs report stoked fresh inflation fears, reinforcing bets that the Federal Reserve will be cautious in cutting interest rates this year.
Wall Street's main indexes closed their second consecutive week in the red.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 696.75 points, or 1.63%, to 41,938.45, the S&P 500 (.SPX), lost 91.21 points, or 1.54%, to 5,827.04 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), lost 317.25 points, or 1.63%, to 19,161.63.
The domestically focused small-cap Russell 2000 index (.RUT), also fell 2.27%, slipping into correction territory as it was down 10.4% from its Nov. 25 closing high. Wall Street's fear gauge (.VIX), hit a three-week high on Friday.
A Labor Department report showed job growth unexpectedly accelerated in December while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% as the labor market ended the year on a strong note.
A hotter-than-expected job gain could translate into faster economic expansion, leading to a rise in prices. To contain a still-elevated inflation, the Fed could be forced to take a more conservative stance on rate cuts this year.
Traders see the central bank lowering borrowing costs for the first time in June and then staying steady for the rest of the year, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
Source : Reuters
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