Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq seesaw after jobs report, with Powell on deck
US stocks seesawed on Friday as Wall Street assessed the crucial
monthly jobs report
amid market uncertainty driven by President Trump’s
volatile trade policy
.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(^DJI)
was down roughly 0.2% after flipping between positive and negative territory. The S&P 500
(^GSPC)
dropped 0.4%, with the broad-based index on pace for its worst week in six months. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
(^IXIC)
fell over 0.5% after
closing in correction territory
on Thursday.
US nonfarm-payrolls showed an added 151,000 jobs last month, slightly less than the 160,000 expected by economists, while the unemployment rate ticked up from 4% to 4.1%. The stakes were high for
February’s job report
as
stocks flounder
amid
fears of weakening economic growth.
Downbeat economic data has
boosted bets on interest rate cuts
this year.
Markets are now looking to Chair Jerome Powell to throw some light on the Federal Reserve’s thinking on Trump’s tariffs and the risk of stagflation when he
speaks on Friday
. His comments will be among the last from Fed officials before their March 18-19 policy meeting.
Trade-war worries are still keeping markets on edge. Trump
paused tariffs
on most goods from Mexico and Canada. Canada
responded with a matching delay
in its second wave of retaliatory duties, while Mexico has yet to directly react.
Read more: Trump pauses tariffs on most imports from Mexico, Canada
On the earnings front, Broadcom’s stock (
AVGO
) tipped higher in early trading after the US chipmaker
issued a strong second quarter forecast
, seen as a positive sign for AI demand.
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