Jobs Numbers, Tariffs Weigh on Stocks

Stocks tumbled on Friday to kick off August trading as investors weighed stark signs of a weakening economy and President Donald Trump’s modified tariff rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 542.40 points, or 1.2%, to 43,588.58. The S&P 500 dwindled 101.38 points, or 1.6%, to 6,238.01 The NASDAQ dropped 472.32 points, or 2.2%, to close at 20.605.13. Bank stocks were sharply lower on fears that a slowing economy could hit loan growth. Shares of JPMorgan Chase pulled back more than 2%, while Bank of America and Wells Fargo fell more than 3% each. GE Aerospace and Caterpillar dipped 1% and 3%. Shares of Amazon tumbled more than 7% after the e-commerce giant provided light operating income guidance for the current quarter. Not all tech news was bad as Apple shares jumped 2% on the back of an earnings and revenue beat. The July jobs report showed non-farm payrolls expanded by 73,000 last month, well beneath the consensus estimate from economists polled by Dow Jones that called for a 100,000 increase to payrolls. Prior months were significantly revised down. June job growth totaled just 14,000, down from 147,000. The May count came down to 19,000 from 125,000, signaling the labour market has been weakening for a while now. Not helping sentiment overnight were Trump’s updated duties ranging from 10% to 41% overnight at the Aug. 1 deadline. Goods that have been transshipped in a bid to avoid the tariffs will face another 40% levy, according to the White House. Probably most shocking to markets was that for Canada, one of the U.S.' biggest trading partners, goods imported into the country will now have a 35% levy, up from 25%. Prices for the 10-year treasury popped, lowering yields to 4.20% from Thursday’s 4.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices retreated $2.02 to $67.24 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices ballooned $63.10 at $3,411.70 U.S. an ounce.