Wall back in the red – Nasdaq loses 2.5%, Dow down 300 points

LAST UPDATE: 22.00

Wall Street returns to negative territory on Friday after the emphatic upward reaction in yesterday’s session against its sell off … Omicron that preceded the week, with the market assessing the weaker-than-expected data for jobs in November announced today.

particularly new jobs grew at a slower pace than expected in November, although companies have been more aggressive in hiring workers, which shows that the largest labor shortage for decades continues to slow down the economic recovery.

The U.S. economy added 210,000 new jobs last month, with recruitment growth the smallest in a year and well below expectations. Economists polled by Wall Street expected 573,000 new jobs.

The unemployment rate in the US fell to 4.2% from 4.6%, recording a new pandemic low. However, economists say the official unemployment rate is probably a few percentage points lower than the real thing.

In an encouraging sign for the labor market, the size of the workforce has increased significantly. About 594,000 people rejoined the workforce in November. The so-called participation rate amounted to 61.8%

These figures are even more important for the US economy after the speech of the President of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, where he spoke about a strong economy and the prospect of the Fed tapping earlier than , what was expected, a development that would accelerate the increase in interest rates.

“The economy is very strong, with inflationary pressures high, so it’s time to look at the reduction in the asset purchase program we announced in November a few months earlier than expected,” said Jerome Powell.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Glenn told a Reuters conference on Thursday that she was ready to remove the word “transient” to describe the current state of inflation in the US.

Today, International Monetary Fund warns of rising inflationary pressures, especially in the US, and the uncertainty caused by the new coronavirus mutation, noting that US banks need to focus more on the risks of inflation.

At the forefront of the pandemic, investors are expecting more information about the new coronavirus mutation, mainly its transmissibility, but also whether it can go beyond the protection provided by vaccines.

Yesterday, President Joe Biden’s government announces strategy after Omicron mutation detected in the country calling on companies to intensify the obligation to vaccinate their employees, although a similar mandate from the federal government has been “frozen” by the federal Justice until recently.

The White House has again imposed strict travel restrictions, requiring passengers entering the United States to have been tested within the past 24 hours.

In the meantime, the dollar wins about 0.1% at 96,223 points according to the ICE US Dollar index, while its yield 10-year government bond US loses 8 basis points at 1.37%.

Indicators – Statistics

On the dashboard, the industrial Dow Jones loses 0.85% to 34,350 points, the widest S&P 500 falls by 1.53% to 4,507 points and the technological Nasdaq slips by 2.6% losing 15,000 points.

In weekly basis The Dow is down 0.8%, the S&P 500 is down 0.6% and the Nasdaq is down 1.3% since Monday.

From 30 shares that make up the Dow 13 move with a positive sign and 17 with a negative. Welmart leads the profits with an increase of 1.26% and International Business Machines which gains 1.05%. On the other hand, Salesforce (-3%), Boeing (-2.55%) and Microsoft (-2.3%) recorded the biggest losses.

Marvell Technology is up 18% as the chip maker’s results and prospects exceed Wall Street forecasts.

DocuSign shares are down nearly 40% after losing their earnings forecasts, with its chief executive saying the pandemic affected the company in the quarter.