Strong Jobs Report Sends Wall Street Lower on Rate Hike Fears

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Friday as a strong August jobs report fueled bets that the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate at this month's monetary policy meeting.

The Labor Department reported that the US economy added 162,000 jobs last month, more than three times the expected number, while revising June and July payrolls upward by 55,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%.

Despite being generally positive economic news, markets interpreted the robust hiring numbers as a sign that the data-dependent Fed will implement a rate hike to curb inflationary pressures.

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, noted that 'the odds of a Fed hike increased a little bit' due to the improving labor market and hot economy.