ETFs pegged to the major U.S. equity indices ended the the holiday-shortened week in the red with most of the damage occurring Friday after a dismal June nonfarm payrolls report.
For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% in afternoon trading Friday, while the Dow shed 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4%.
The jobs market appears to be losing steam. The U.S. economy created 80,000 jobs last month, below expectations. The May nonfarm payrolls figure was revised to 77,000 as job growth has tailed off in recent months. The unemployment rate held steady at 8.2% in June, the Labor Department said Friday.
“The job market is soft,” said David Resler, chief economic adviser at Nomura Securities International, in a Bloomberg News report. “I’d characterize our reaction as much the same way the Fed will react — not surprised but disappointed. It’s just not the kind of growth we need to see at this stage in the business cycle.”