US stocks dip following October jobs report

(MENAFN- AFP) Wall Street stocks retreated from record highs in opening trade Friday after the Department of Labor reported the US economy added 214,000 jobs in October.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,508.23, down 46.24 points (0.26 percent), while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 3.60 (0.18 percent) at 2,027.61, Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at records Thursday.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8.11 (0.17 percent) to 4,630.35.

The October jobs count came in below the 235,000 expected by analysts. But the Labor Department revised upward by a total of 31,000 the number of jobs created in the previous two months.

The report also said the unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.8 percent, its lowest level since July 2008.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare called the report "more good than bad, but not indisputably great."