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Wall Street fell and the U.S. dollar remained firm on Friday after the monthly U.S. employment data came close enough to forecast.
This raised speculation that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade - perhaps as early as next month.
By the close the Dow Jones had lost 46 points to 17373. The S&P 500 was off 0.3% to 2078 while the NASDAQ eased 0.2% to 5044.
The U.S. Labor Department said employers added 215000 jobs in July slightly below a Reuters poll of 223000 jobs.
But the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent and there were signs that wages were beginning to pick up.
Investors have been scouring economic data including today’s jobs report for guidance on the timing of the first increase in U.S. short-term rates in nearly a decade.
Fed officials last month said they were looking for further improvement in the labor market before making such a move.
A hike in rates which have stayed near zero for nearly a decade will increase borrowing costs for companies crimping profits.
Wall Street round-up
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) advanced 13.7 percent to $23.25 after the chipmaker reported a surprise rise in second-quarter revenue.
ADRs of JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) fell 2 percent to $32.14 after China's second largest e-commerce site by sales reported a 61 percent year-on-year rise in second quarter revenues topping expectations.
() sank 5.7 percent to $4.43 even as the daily-deals company posted a 3.1 percent increase in quarterly revenue.
Hershey (NYSE:HSY) fell 2.7 percent to $89.73 after the chocolate maker posted a second-quarter loss hurt by low demand in China.
Cablevision Systems (NYSE:CVC) dropped 2.6 percent to $25.84 after delivering profit that topped expectations while revenue matched estimates.
Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) plunged 10.4 percent to $21.06 after the grocery store chain gave a soft profit forecast and promoted its chief financial officer to chief executive.
Lions Gate (NYSE:LGF) rose 7 percent to $37.79. The entertainment company soundly beat expectations with a profit of 26 per share versus a $0.07 forecast but missed on revenue posting $409 million versus estimates of $428 million.
Transocean (NYSE:RIG) the world’s largest offshore rig owner slipped 2.7 percent to $13.47 after a 12 percent jump the most since October 2008 following the offshore driller’s better-than-estimated earnings.
Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT:LNG) gained 5.1 percent to $68.55 after activist investor Carl Icahn reported an 8.2 percent stake in the firm and said he might seek a seat on the liquefied natural gas company's board.
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