WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved sharply lower during trading on Friday, extending the significant downturn seen over the course of the previous session. The major averages have all shown notable moves to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back well off yesterday's record intraday highs.
Currently, the major averages are off their worst levels but still posting steep losses. The Nasdaq is down 435.64 points or 2.1 percent at 20,686.80, the S&P 500 is down 98.14 points or 1.6 percent at 6,241.25 and the Dow is down 570.85 points or 1.3 percent at 43,560.13.
The sell-off on Wall Street comes amid concerns about the economic impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs, as the White House announced new tariff rates on dozens of countries.
The new tariffs range from just 10 percent to as high as 41 percent, and the White House said a 40 percent levy will be imposed on goods that have been transshipped to evade applicable duties.
'Investors have been caught off guard, having previously hoped Trump would kick the new tariff levels down the road pending further negotiations with foreign trade partners,' said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
He added, 'Instead, we've got new rates galore and that means investors need to spend time understanding what that means for companies in their portfolio.'
Negative sentiment has also been generated in reaction to a closely watched Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected job growth in the month of July.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 73,000 jobs in July, while economists had expected employment to jump by 110,000 jobs.
The report also showed much larger than normal downward revisions to job growth in May and June, with employment in the two months increasing by a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
With the downward revisions, employment in May edged up by 19,000 jobs, while employment in June crept up by 14,000 jobs.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2 percent in July from 4.1 percent in June, with the uptick matching expectations.
A steep drop by shares of Amazon (AMZN) is also weighing on Wall Street, with the online retail giant tumbling by 7.7 percent after reporting better than expected second quarter results but providing disappointing operating income guidance for the current quarter.
Sector News
Airline stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index plummeting by 4.4 percent.
Substantial weakness is also visible among oil service stocks amid a steep drop by the price of crude, as reflected by the 4.1 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.
Computer hardware, retail and banking stocks are also seeing significant weakness, while pharmaceutical and gold stocks are bucking the downtrend.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index declined by 0.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent.
The major European markets have also shown significant moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 3.0 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 2.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.9 percent.
In the bond markets, treasuries have surged in reaction to the weaker than expected jobs data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 10.7 basis points at 4.253 percent.
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