U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor’s
500 Index tumbling the most in two months, as better-than-forecast jobs data fueled speculation the Federal Reserve is
moving closer to raising interest rates.
Apple Inc. added 0.2 percent, after an earlier 2.3 percent jump, as the company will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing AT&T Inc., which slumped 1.5 percent.
The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent, the most since Jan. 5, to 2,071.26 at 4 p.m. in New York. The equity gauge lost 1.6 percent for the week.
The Dow retreated 278.94 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,856.78 for its worst drop in five weeks. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.1 percent. More than 7.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 7.2 percent above the 30-day average.
“Investors are looking and focusing entirely on what the Federal Reserve will do in the coming months,” Chad Morganlander, a money manager at St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which oversees about $170 billion, said by telephone.
Employers added more jobs than forecast in February and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent, the lowest in almost seven years, showing the labor market is sustaining progress after the best annual performance in 15 years.
The 295,000 advance in payrolls last month followed a 239,000 January increase that was smaller than previously reported, figures from the Labor Department showed Friday in Washington.
Apple Inc. added 0.2 percent, after an earlier 2.3 percent jump, as the company will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing AT&T Inc., which slumped 1.5 percent.
The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent, the most since Jan. 5, to 2,071.26 at 4 p.m. in New York. The equity gauge lost 1.6 percent for the week.
The Dow retreated 278.94 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,856.78 for its worst drop in five weeks. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.1 percent. More than 7.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 7.2 percent above the 30-day average.
“Investors are looking and focusing entirely on what the Federal Reserve will do in the coming months,” Chad Morganlander, a money manager at St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which oversees about $170 billion, said by telephone.
Employers added more jobs than forecast in February and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent, the lowest in almost seven years, showing the labor market is sustaining progress after the best annual performance in 15 years.
The 295,000 advance in payrolls last month followed a 239,000 January increase that was smaller than previously reported, figures from the Labor Department showed Friday in Washington.
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