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U.S. stocks plunged Friday for the third consecutive day after a government jobs report showed fewer hires that suggested a cooling labor market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 629.69 points, or 2.10%, to 29,297.25. The S&P 500 dropped 104.68 points, or 2.80%, to 3,639.84, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 430.91 points, or 3.80%, to 10,652.40.
The U.S Labor Department reported Friday that the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% from 3.7% in August. The Labor Department reported that 263,000 seasonally adjusted jobs were added in September, which is a decrease from the 315,000 jobs added in August and the 400,000 added per month in the first half of the year.
“We are seeing labor demand cool,” Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo told the Wall Street Journal. “But we have a long way to go towards restoring balance between supply and demand for labor.”
The declines came after a blistering start to the week when the three benchmark indexes rose Monday and Tuesday, reflecting the economic uncertainty of recent weeks.
The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 0.75% last month, the third consecutive increase at that rate. Fed officials have indicated more rate increases are likely, raising concerns that the central bank could help push the economy into recession if it acts too aggressively to tamp down inflation.
Some of the stocks that declined included Apple (AAPL), which closed at $140.09, down $5.34, or 3.67%. Qualcomm’s (QCOM) price of shares fell $4.37, or 3.49%, to close at $120.91.
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