The main wall street indices added to their weakly losses and sank over 1% at open on Friday after Donald Trump ruled out a peace deal with Iran.
S&P 500 opened 1.3% or 90.95 points lower at 6,739.76, Dow Jones opened 1.52% lower at 47,226.73, and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite opened 1.5% or 336 points lower at 22,412.82. In the early minutes of trade, dow shed close to 900 points.
As of 10:05 a.m. EST, Dow traded 1.6% lower at 47,174.02, S&P 500 traded 1.38% lower at 6,736.66, and Nasdaq traded 1.16% lower at 22,494.57.
With the US and Israel continuing their attack on Iran on the seventh day, President Donald Trump on Friday said that there will be no deal with Tehran, except unconditional surrender. A weaker US jobs data and inflation fears added to the market strain.
Unemployment rate in America rose 4.4% in February after employers unexpectedly shed 92,000 non-farm jobs, as per Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Oil continued to surge, with the West Texas Intermediate soaring 10% to $88.76 a barrel and global benchmark up over 7% to $91.50 a barrel.
"Today's numbers may have put the Fed between a rock and a hard place,” Ellen Zentner at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management told news agency Bloomberg. "Significant weakening in the labor market would support a rate cut, but given the risk that higher-for-longer oil prices could trigger another inflation surge, the Fed may feel compelled remain on the sidelines."
All of the magnificent seven stocks slumped to red, with Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. trading over 3% lower at $640.62, Tesla Inc. sliding over 2% to trade at $395.03, and Apple Inc. down nearly 2% to $255.61.
After the markets opened, all of the 11 sectoral indices traded in the red with financials sector leading the decline.
Spot Gold futures rose 0.5% to trade at $5,105.27 an ounce.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index strengthened against global currencies to rise 0.2%. The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1559, British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3340, and Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 158.00 per dollar.
Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, fell 3% to $69,028.95.
ALSO READ: US Unexpectedly Sheds 92,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Rises
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