U.S. stocks touched fresh session lows Friday afternoon after a jobs report for September showed no signs of labor gains easing back, a key focus of the Federal Reserve as it attempts to cool stubbornly high inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 585 points, or 2%, to trade near 29,341, after putting in a session low of 29,314.70. The S&P 500 index skid 2.6% and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 3.6%. Friday’s renewed bout of selling was cutting into strong weekly gains for U.S. stocks, but the Dow was still up 2.1% for the week, which compares with a 1.7% gain for the S&P 500 and 0.9% climb for the Nasdaq. If those gains hold the benchmarks would snap a 3-week losing streak, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was climbing back to about 3.87%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.