Friday saw a decline in Wall Street’s major indexes, with the S&P 500 hitting a one-week low as a positive jobs data fueled new concerns about inflation and strengthened wagers that the Federal Reserve would be hesitant about cutting interest rates this year.
The domestically oriented small-cap Russell 2000 index, which had dropped around 10% from its record high achieved in late November, was also headed for a correction, along with the day’s declines of roughly 1.9%.
At 10:01 a.m., the Nasdaq Composite dropped 390.73 points, or 2.02%, to 19,085.99, the S&P 500 dropped 90.46 points, or 1.55%, to 5,826.73, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 555.96 points, or 1.31%, to 42,074.56.
According to a Labor Department report, the labor market closed the year on a strong note as job growth unexpectedly surged in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%.
Traders now 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.
