Stock exchange traded funds were set for a sharply lower open in the U.S. on Friday after the government said the economy didn’t create any net job growth in August.
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) fell nearly 2% in premarket action Friday while Dow futures slipped over 150 points.
In precious metals, gold ETFs rallied on expectations the weak August jobs number will force the Federal Reserve to announce some sort of additional stimulus for the economy at its meeting later this month. [Gold ETFs Rally]
The disappointing employment data accelerated losses in Europe as stock markets in Germany, France and the U.K. were down over 2%.
“This is further evidence that the economy is very close to stalling if not having stalled,” Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at HIS, told Bloomberg. “Businesses continue to be super, super cautious.”