Strong US Jobs Data Triggers Rate Hike Bets
US stocks fell on Friday as a strong jobs report lifted the odds of an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
The US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, exceeding analyst expectations and also improving previously reported figures for June and July.
Futures markets placed the chances of a September interest rate increase at 60.2 percent, up from 49.4 percent on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped by 0.5 percent to 53,397.76, while the S&P 500 fell by 0.3 percent to 7,727.62 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped by 0.2 percent to 26,537.43.
Cresset Capital's Jack Ablin called the jobs data 'too good for the Fed to ignore', stating that it was 'pretty much a done deal' that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in a couple of weeks following the report.