US equities showed significant moves to the downside on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbling to its lowest closing level in almost a month. The major averages finished the day near their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plummeted 436.83 points or 2.6 percent to 16,690.83, the S&P 500 plunged 94.99 points or 1.7 percent to 5,408.42 and the Dow slumped 410.34 points or 1.0 percent to 40,345.41. For the holiday-shortened week, the Nasdaq saw a 5.8 percent nosedive, the S&P 500 plummeted by 4.3 percent and the Dow tumbled by 2.9 percent.
Big tech companies like Amazon (-3.6%), Alphabet (-4%) and Meta (-3.2%) saw significant losses, with chipmakers such as Broadcom (-10.3%) and Nvidia (-4.1%) also faced sharp declines. Significant weakness was also visible among gold stocks, which moved lower along with the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.7 percent. Banking stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.6 percent slump by the KBW Bank Index.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy after the Labor Department released a closely watched report showing employment rose by less than expected in the month of August. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 142,000 jobs in August compared to economist estimates for an increase of 160,000 jobs. US treasury yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.1 basis points to 3.710 percent, its lowest closing level in over a year.
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