By Caroline Valetkevitch
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks added to losses in late Friday trading, led by a 3-percent drop on the Nasdaq following weak forecasts from technology companies including LinkedIn
LinkedIn was down 45 percent at $105.67, a day after the company's revenue forecast missed estimates. Tableau Software
Big tech names also dropped sharply, including Facebook shares fell 5.7 percent to $104.20, while Alphabet
"Tech has got a few shining examples of what happens if you disappoint," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. "When that happens, that calls into question the valuations of all high-multiple stocks."
Early market weakness followed data showing the U.S. unemployment rate hit an eight-year low in January. That revived the prospect of a Fed rate hike this year.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 jobs last month, below the 190,000 expected by economists polled by Reuters as the boost to hiring from unseasonably mild weather faded.
At 2:49 p.m. the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 244.79 points, or 1.49 percent, to 16,171.79, the S&P 500 <.SPX> had lost 36.71 points, or 1.92 percent, to 1,878.74 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> had dropped 143.02 points, or 3.17 percent, to 4,366.54.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,248 to 760, for a 2.96-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 2,155 issues fell and 594 advanced for a 3.63-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and 24 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 3 new highs and 171 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Abhiram Nandakumar; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
