NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday, as the latest jobs report deepened uncertainty among investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 410.34 points, or 1.01 percent, to 40,345.41. The S&P 500 sank 94.99 points, or 1.73 percent, to 5,408.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 436.83 points, or 2.55 percent, to 16,690.83.
Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with communication services and consumer discretionary leading the laggards by losing 2.90 percent and 2.81 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, real estate bucked the trend by rising 0.01 percent.
U.S. employers added 142,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in August, according to Friday's report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This marked a second consecutive month of weaker-than-expected job growth, with totals of June and July also revised downward.
Despite the slowdown in job creation, the unemployment rate edged down in August to 4.2 percent from 4.3 percent in July.
Nvidia's stock declined 4.09 percent on Friday afternoon, recording its worst weekly performance in two years. The shares were down 13.93 percent in the week, which made for their largest weekly drop since a 16.1 percent fall in the week that ended on Sept. 2, 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
On the economic front, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams suggested that the central bank should begin cutting interest rates this month but did not advocate for an unusually large half-percentage-point reduction. His comments offered no clear push for a more aggressive easing of monetary policy.
"We'll get together and obviously analyze everything and discuss that," Williams said. "But right now I think my own view is we've definitely seen that movement towards balance in the labor market. We've seen the good data on inflation and that's telling us it's time to dial down that restrictiveness of policy."
