Nasdaq leads US stocks lower as yields rise despite weak jobs report

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Nasdaq leads US stocks lower as yields rise despite weak jobs report
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Spencer Platt/Getty Images
  • The Nasdaq Composite fell Friday after the September jobs report missed expectations.
  • Rising bond yields hurt tech stocks as the jobs report may not delay Fed tapering.
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US stocks fell Friday, with a rise in bond yields weighing on tech shares, suggesting investors expect the Federal Reserve to stay with its plan to reduce asset purchases despite the weak September jobs report.

The Nasdaq Composite lagged other Wall Street benchmarks as large-cap tech stocks declined. The S&P 500 and the Dow industrials ended mostly lower after a seesaw session.

The moves took place after the Labor Department said 194,000 jobs were created last month, well below the estimate of 500,000 jobs from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. But the number of jobs in July and August were upwardly revised.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.6%, the highest since June, after the report, suggesting investors still see the Fed reducing the amount of monthly buying in mortgage-backed securities and government bonds despite the big miss in the September jobs report. Elevated bond yields hurt shares of tech companies as they reduce their future cash flows. There are expectations the Fed will announce its tapering plan as soon as November.

Here's where US indexes stood at 4:00 p.m. on Friday:

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"In our view, there's likely going to be more volatility ahead in the stock market, especially as the Fed unwinds some of the stimulus program that's been in place for the last 18 months," Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management, told Insider on Friday.

"Monetary stimulus has been around for quite some time and markets have gotten pretty used to it and just by removing that marginally, that changes some of the outlook for individual investors," he said.

Around the markets, gold slipped 0.1% to $1,757.20 per ounce.

Oil prices rose, with West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1.7% to $79.59 per barrel.

Bitcoin gained 0.2% to $54,638.

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