Investing.com -- U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday after weak employment data raised fears that the U.S. economy was heading towards a recession.
At 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 440 points, or 1.1%, the S&P 500 dropped 87 points, or 1.6% and the NASDAQ Composite slumped 435 points, or 2.3%.
Payrolls data due
The July official jobs report showed that fewer jobs were created last month than expected, with nonfarm payrolls rising 114,000 last month, the lowest since January 2021, and down from a revised 179,000 in June. Economists had seen the July number at 177,000.
The unemployment rate also rose to 4.3%, up from 4.1% in June, while month-on-month average hourly wage growth came in at 0.2%, a drop from 0.3% the previous month.
"The sharp slowdown in payrolls in July and sharper rise in the unemployment rate makes a September interest rate cut inevitable," said analysts at Capital Economics, "and will increase speculation that the Fed will kick off its loosening cycle with a 50 bp cut or even an intra-meeting move."
Although these numbers make a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September a very likely event, investors are starting to worry that the U.S. central bank is now behind the curve and the tight monetary policy could result in a recession.
Intel, Amazon disappoint; Apple earnings beat estimates
Sentiment was also hit by poorly received earnings from tech giants Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which overshadowed positive numbers from iPhone manufacturer Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Chipmaker Intel stock slumped over 27% as its June quarter earnings missed estimates. The company also suspended its dividend and said it will cut 15% of its jobs as part of a turnaround plan.
Amazon stock fell more than 10% after the e-commerce giant provided a softer-than-expected outlook on revenue, and warned that online sales were slowing as consumers grew more cautious over purchases.
By contrast, Apple stock traded 1% higher after the company reported stronger-than-expected revenue and profit in the June quarter.
This came on the back of slightly better than expected sales of its flagship iPhone, although device sales did fall from last year amid growing competition in top market China.
Crude on track for more weekly losses
Crude prices slumped Friday after the weak U.S. jobs data added to mounting concerns over slowing economic growth.
By 09:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) dropped 2.8% to $74.19 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 2.4% to $77.61 a barrel.
Both benchmarks have declined around 10% over the last four weeks as disappointing economic data from top oil importer China and surveys showing weaker manufacturing activity across Asia, Europe and the United States raised concerns of weak global economic growth, weighing on oil consumption.
The weak economic prints saw markets largely look past heightened tensions in the Middle East after the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran earlier in the week.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, made no changes to its production policies after an online meeting on Thursday, reiterating that it could pause plans to increase output from October.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this item.)