Stocks fell on Friday, giving the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index its worst weekly performance of the year, after a weaker-than-expected report on American employment, the latest in a series of data to indicate economic growth may be losing momentum.
The S.P. 500 fell 0.4 percent by the end of trading, while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.7 percent.
All three indexes had improved from a loss of about 1 percent earlier in the day after the jobs report. About 88,000 jobs were added in March, less than half the forecast of 200,000, though the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent. The report follows similarly disappointing reads on the manufacturing and services sector, as well as other poor labor market data.
“The numbers were certainly disappointing, but it has only been a week of some bad data points,” said JJ Kinahan, Chicago-based chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. “We will have to see a steady continuation of this to say it is becoming a trend.”
F5 Networks was the S.P.’s biggest percentage loser, dropping nearly 20, a day after forecasting second-quarter earnings and revenue that were well below expectations.
Several of F5’s peers were also sharply lower, with Juniper Networks off 3.5 percent and Citrix Systems down 1.5 percent.
Airline stocks were hit after J.P. Morgan Securities cut its revenue expectations for United States airlines by 2 to 3 percent for 2013 and 2014 and said it expected monthly revenue per available seat mile to turn negative for some airlines, hurt by federal budget cutbacks.
Delta Airlines fell 2.3 percent and United Continental Holdings was off 1.2 percent.
The S.P. 500 was down about 1 percent for the week, only its third weekly loss this year It has gained about 9 percent this year without a significant pullback.
Equity market gains have been partly fueled by a bond-buying program by the Federal Reserve. Measures from central banks around the world have also helped, and on Thursday, Wall Street rose after the Bank of Japan announced aggressive policies to jump-start its economy.
Friday’s payroll report “should reinforce the Fed’s recent bond-buying activity, but that may not be enough to turn today’s bearish feelings in the markets,” said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York.
Energy shares were pressured, as the group is closely tied to economic growth expectations. Crude oil fell for a third day, dropping 0.6 percent and extending its decline for the week to more than 5 percent. Chevron fell 0.7 percent.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/business/economy/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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