“You can tell because leisure and hospitality didn’t add any jobs and retail actually lost jobs. Investors will conclude that perhaps this will put the further on hold in terms of the timing of tapering. Markets may be okay with that.”
The labor market remains the key touchstone for the Fed, with Chair Jerome Powell hinting last week that reaching full employment was a pre-requisite for the central bank to start paring back its asset purchases. By 12:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively, with economy-linked industrial stocks including General Electric, 3M and Boeing falling between 0.2% and 1.7%.
Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Global gained 1.8% after a media report that the city of Beijing was considering moves that would give state entities control of the company.Biotechnology firm Forte Biosciences slumped 81.4% to be among the top decliners across U.S. exchanges after its experimental treatment for eczema, a skin disease, failed to meet its main goal.