New York stock market starts off mixed, August non-farm employment indicators exceed market expectations

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong-won Yoon, Yonhap Infomax = The three major stock indices of the New York Stock Exchange started off mixed, digesting the announcement of non-agricultural employment indicators.

As of 9:37 am on the 4th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average on the New York Stock Exchange recorded 53,548.79, down 137.32 points (0.26%) from the previous day. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index was down 6.41 points (0.08%) from the previous day to 7,741.30, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 16.80 points (0.06%) from the previous day to 26,600.86.

The August non-farm employment indicator released today significantly exceeded market expectations.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, non-farm employment in August increased by 162,000 compared to the previous month. Compared to the market expectation of 56,000, the gap is over 100,000.

The unemployment rate remained the same as the previous month, recording 4.1%.

As non-farm employment exceeded expectations, concerns about interest rate hikes also rose again.

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) FedWatch, the federal funds rate (FFR) futures market reflected a 58.2% probability that interest rates will rise this month. This is an 8.8% point increase compared to the battlefield.

Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said, “With the employment indicator coming out stronger than expected, concerns about an interest rate hike are likely to increase, but the actual outcome will depend on next week’s inflation indicator.”

He explained, “If the inflation indicator comes out lower than expected, the Federal Reserve will likely decide that it does not need to take much consideration of potentially inflation-inducing signals emerging from the labor market.”

Looking at each industry, technology and industrial materials showed a strong performance, while all other industries showed a decline.

Movie theater company AMC Entertainment's stock price rose 3.94% as CEO Aden Aron strongly criticized Robinhood's stock token targeting AMC and other stocks. He described this practice as contemptible, absurd and despicable.

Stock prices of credit monitoring companies Equifax and TransUnion fell 8.76% and 9.61%, respectively. Bill Pult, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), said through

After sportswear manufacturer Lululemon announced its earnings, its stock price plunged 17.20%. Lululemon presented earnings per share (EPS) and sales guidance for the fiscal third quarter of $0.93 to $0.98 and $2.29 billion to $2.33 billion, respectively. It is significantly below market expectations of $2.40 and $2.53 billion.

Adobe's stock price fell 6.55% as it announced that long-time CEO Shantanu Narayen would hand over management control to Anil Chakrabarti, a company insider.

European stock markets also showed mixed results.

The Euro STOXX 50 index is trading at 6,399.12, up 0.26% from the previous day. Britain's FTSE100 index and France's CAC40 index fell 0.26% and 0.30%, respectively. Germany's DAX index rose 0.33%.

International oil prices fell.

At the same time, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for delivery in October 2026, a nearby contract, is recording $90.19 per barrel, down 1.22% from the previous price.