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At the closing bell in New York the Dow Jones finished 171 points lower at 17737 while the Nasdaq fell 32 points to end at 4704 and the S&P 500 lost 17 points to settle at 2045. The blue chip Dow posted a 0.5% weekly loss and is down 0.5% year to date.
The S&P 500 ended down 0.6% for the week shedding 0.7% so far this year.
Kicking off the economic calendar today the Labor Department reported that 252000 non farm jobs were added in December far better than expected gains of 240000.
This is the 11th consecutive month of job gains above 200000 the longest such stretch since 1994 reinforcing views that the economy is strong enough to weather storms in Europe Japan and China.
The unemployment rate also dropped to 5.6% from 5.8% again better than anticipated.
In addition November job gains were revised up to 353000 from 321000 while October job gains were upped to 261000 from 243000 previously.
But wages in December fell 5 cents or 0.2% to $24.57 an hour the biggest percentage drop since at least 2006.
The growth in wages over the past 12 months slowed to 1.7%.
Charles Evans president of the Chicago Fed said the central bank should wait until wages accelerate before hiking rates.
Later in the morning investors also took in news that wholesale inventories were up 0.8% in November. Economists expected a 0.4% increase.
Commodities
Gold for February delivery rose 0.6% to settle at US$1216.10 an ounce.
March silver climbed US$0.30 to US$16.42. Palladium for March delivery rose US$7.05 to US$800.15 an ounce while April platinum gained US$7.10 to US$1230.10 an ounce.
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery slipped 0.9% to settle at US$48.36 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Wall Street round-up
On Thursday U.S. stock averages rallied as investors received a lift on dovish comments from a voting Fed member who said that the Fed should not rush to raise rates.
In corporate activity Macy's (NYSE:M) fell 2.8% after announcing the closing of more than a dozen stores. It expects to take charges of up to $110 million for the move and is also exploring whether or not to launch an off-price brand.
Gap (NYSE:GPS) also dropped 2.5% after the retailer reported a 1% increase in December same store sales and a 3% rise in holiday season comparable sales.
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) late Thursday released quarterly earnings and revenue that were in line with estimates but the retailer's comparable store sales came in short of forecasts due to increased promotional and shipping expenses. Shares fell more than 6.7% on Friday.
Meanwhile Wet Seal (NASDAQ:WTSL) plunged over 46% on reports it has hired restructuring lawyers to help the company with a potential bankruptcy filing just days after announcing the closure of 338 stores and 3700 job cuts.
DuPont (NYSE:DD) was also in the spotlight as Nelson Peltz's activist investment firm has launched a proxy fight against the company to add four directors to its board.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) is planning to cut another 500 jobs with the closure of two Pillsbury dough factories coming on top of the 1400 job cuts it announced last year.
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