US stocks declined on Friday, pressured by concerns over a weakening labour market and a tech selloff. The S&P 500 dropped 1.70%, the Dow fell by 409 points, and the Nasdaq declined 2.50%. According to Trading Economics, major tech firms, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) (-3.60%), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (-4%), and Meta (NASDAQ:META) (-3.20%), experienced notable losses, while chipmakers like Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) (-10.30%) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) (-4.1%) also saw sharp declines. Market jitters were exacerbated following the August jobs report which revealed 142 thousand new jobs, falling short of the 161 thousand forecast. Additionally, remarks from Federal Reserve (Fed) Governor Christopher Waller raised expectations of a more aggressive rate cut this month, as he pointed to growing risks in the labour market and signalled a willingness to consider a deeper cut if necessary. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 4%, the Nasdaq fell 5.60%, while the Dow slipped 2.50%.
European stocks ended significantly lower on Friday, mirroring declines on Wall Street and weighed down by a global shift from risk as concerns mounted over the resilience of the US economy. The Eurozone’s STOXX 50 fell 1.70% to finish at 4 733 points, marking a 4.50% loss for the week. Meanwhile, the pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 1.20% to close at 506, a 3.50% decrease since hitting a record high earlier in the week on Monday.
Amid economic uncertainty, persistent deflationary pressures, and limited policy support, Chinese markets faced declines on Friday. The Shanghai Composite dropped 0.81% to 2 766, while the Shenzhen Component fell 1.44% to 8 131, with both indices losing around 2.60% for the week. Recent data revealed weakening activity in China’s manufacturing and services sectors, prompting investors to await this week’s inflation and trade figures for more insight into the health of the world’s second-largest economy.
The FTSE/JSE All Share Index (ALSI) declined on Friday, closing at 81 365, its lowest level in more than three weeks, as it followed global markets. Concerns about the US economy's strength persisted after a weak US jobs report, while uncertainty about the potential size of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut this month further dampened market sentiment. Resource-related stocks, along with tech heavyweights Naspers (JO:NPNJn) and Prosus (JO:PRXJn), led the losses, followed by retailers and industrial companies. Financials also dipped slightly into the red. Over the week, the ALSI fell by approximately 2.80%. At 18h00, the rand had weakened 0.98% to R17.87/$, 0.79% to R19.80/€ and 0.66% to R23.45/£.
US crude oil dropped to its lowest point since June 2023, setting the stage for its worst weekly performance in almost a year as OPEC+ failed to ease market concerns about the balance between global supply and demand. Earlier in the session, US crude reached a low of $67.17, losing 8% to mark its worst week since October. Moreover, the Brent global benchmark declined by 9.80% over the same period.
Gold prices fell after a mixed jobs report added to the ongoing debate over how deep the Fed is going to cut interest rates at its September meeting. The US economy created fewer jobs than anticipated, with significant downward revisions to the June and July figures. However, the unemployment rate fell to 4.20% as anticipated, and wage growth increased to 0.40%, exceeding the forecasted 0.30%.
