Wall Street stocks fall slightly on mixed jobs report
By DPA, IANSFriday, January 7, 2011
NEW YORK - US stocks fell slightly Friday, after the US unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in 19 months, but the number of jobs added in December still fell below expectations.
The Labour Department said the jobless rate dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent in November, partly caused by people who stopped looking for work. The department said 103,000 jobs were added to the economy, less than the 150,000 jobs analysts predicted.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 25.58 points, or 0.22 percent, to 11,697.31. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 2.71 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,273.85. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 7.69 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,709.89.
Some Wall Street losses over the last two days marred an otherwise positive start to the year, as investors hoped for a more positive outlook for the US economy in 2011.
For the first week of 2011, the Dow gained 0.84 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 1.9 percent.
The US currency rose against the euro to 77.43 euro cents from 76.88 euro cents Thursday. The dollar dropped against the Japanese currency to 83.07 yen from 83.34 yen.
