Strong US job market triggers interest rate fears on Wall Street

US employment in August rose more than economists expected. Concern is now growing in the market that the Federal Reserve could be forced to raise interest rates after all.

A street sign on Wall Street, home of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo: dpa

New York. A surprisingly strong US labor market report fueled fears of another interest rate hike on Wall Street on Friday and depressed prices. Before the long weekend, they all closed in the red.

The US standard value index Dow Jones lost around 0.5 percent and was quoted at 53,414 points.

The broader S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent to 7,719 points.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell by around 0.3 percent to 26,507 points.

The Nasdaq 100, a reflection of the 100 non-financial companies with the highest market capitalization, moved slightly lower to 29,544 points.

US job market reports strong job growth

The US labor market created far more jobs in August than expected. The bottom line was that 162,000 non-agricultural jobs were created, according to the government report published on Friday. Experts surveyed by the Reuters news agency had expected 56,000 jobs. According to revised data, 21,000 jobs were created in July. A loss of 23,000 jobs was originally reported. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent in August.

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“More meat than fish: the labor market data is more likely to be the deciding factor for the Fed to increase the key interest rate,” says Bastian Hepperle from the private bank Bethmann Hal. "The tipping point on the interest scale will be the upcoming producer and consumer prices. If the Fed becomes convinced that the inflation dynamic is increasing again, it can no longer stand idly by."

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