U.S. stocks turned lower late Friday afternoon after hovering around flat for most of the session as the latest jobs report revealed less gains than expected but a better-than-anticipated unemployement rate.
As of 3:15pm ET in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 22 points at 17532 while the Nasdaq fell 16 points to 4622 and the S&P 500 dropped 3 points to 2028.
Investors were focused on the all-important monthly jobs report today which the Labor Department reported saw a gain of 214000 jobs in October with the unemployment rate dropping slightly to 5.8% from 5.9% bringing it to a six-year low. Economists were expecting a larger gain of 233000 non farm jobs while the unemployment rate was expected to hold steady at 5.9%.
September's jobs gains were revised upward to 256000 from 248000 while August's jobs gains were raised to 203000 from 180000 previously. Average hourly wages also rose 0.1% in October a sign of an improving labor market.
Later in the afternoon the government said consumer credit climbed 5.9% in September.
European markets finished mostly lower Friday after German industrial production fell short of the consensus forecast of a 2% rise in September signaling that Europe's largest economy is struggling to recover. Japan's Nikkei finished up 0.52% but the rest of Asian markets settled lower on Friday.
In corporate activity () reported this morning that its profit slipped below forecasts in the latest quarter as the health insurer continued to feel pressure from costs related to insurance exchanges and new hep C drugs. Shares were off more than 6% Friday.
Walt Disney () matched estimates on earnings and beat on revenue last night helped by growth in its media and studio units. Disney also said that a fourth Toy Story movie would be released in 2017.
Gap () reported a 3% drop in October same store sales last night falling short of expectations. However the clothing retailer is still expecting quarterly profit to exceed current analysts' forecasts. Shares rose over 2% today.
() shares were last up 1% after saying late Thursday that its quarterly profit matched estimates while its revenue topped forecasts. The online game maker also posted a 15% rise in expected bookings.
After the closing bell Warren Buffett's () is slated to report quarterly results.
In other stock news () said a security breach exposed 53 million more email addresses than it had reported initially in September when it said that about 56 million payment cards had been compromised.
(NYSE:BAC) shed 0.3% after the company said it tripled its previously reported third quarter loss due to legal expenses tied to forex investigations.
() lost more than 33% after the company announced an accounting revision that showed sales of its drugs were not as strong as Wall Street expected.
In commodities gold futures rebounded $27.20 to settle at $1169.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange snapping a 7-day losing streak. The December contract still posted a weekly loss however of 1.5%.
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