Busy day on Wall Street after shock numbers – Nasdaq closed nearly 2 per cent down

An hour before the start of trading, the American arrived labor market report, often referred to as the “most important number of the month”. It showed that 210,000 new jobs were created in the United States in November, while 550,000 new jobs were expected in advance.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate fell more than expected, to 4.2 percent at the end of November.

The three major indices on Wall Street rose from the start on Friday, but after just 20 minutes of trading, they turned abruptly and some of the indexes fell sharply:

• The Nasdaq Technology Index ended the day down 1.92 percent.
• The broad S&P 500 finished the day 0.85 percent lower.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day 0.17 percent lower.

The VIX, often referred to as the Fear Index, rose above eight percent on Friday and was trading at levels around 30 points at close time. The index rose sharply last week after growing fears of new virus variants.

The market turmoil has also spread to the fixed income market. The interest rate on ten-year US government debt, often referred to as the “world’s hottest interest rate,” also dropped significantly by more than five percent as investors sought out “safe havens.”

At the time of closing, the interest rate was trading at 1.37 per cent.

The eleventh consecutive month of job growth

Although labor market numbers were disappointing on Friday, November was the eleventh consecutive month of strong employment growth in the US. In just one year, more than six million “new” jobs were created in the world’s largest economy.

However, the number pales in comparison to the fall of April 2020, when hiring fell by more than 20 million jobs in the worst job number in history.

According to Knut Magnussen, chief economist at DNB Markets, US employment growth has been strong throughout the fall as a result of reopening effects.

– Most jobs have returned to catering and accommodation, but still, we’re not back to where we were before the pandemic. He says more jobs are needed in the future.

best selling musk

Earlier this Friday, DN wrote that Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to sell Tesla stock. On Thursday, he sold another item – this time for more than one billion dollars, which equates to more than 9.2 billion kroner.

In total, he sold Tesla shares for 90 billion NOK.

Tesla shares fell sharply after the news of the big sale, and fell more than six percent on Wall Street on Friday. (Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.