US stocks drop despite better-than-expected jobs data
Key jobs data has signaled the labour market in the world’s largest economy is doing slightly better than investors had feared.
But this failed to energise US stock markets, which all opened lower, following an escalation in US-China tensions overnight.
Donald Trump took aim at a third major Chinese technology company, giving US businesses 45 days to stop dealing with WeChat, the messaging app owned by Tencent.
The S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones index all dropped by 0.4 per cent in opening trades.
The labour department’s non-farm payrolls report showed the US added 1.76m jobs in July. That was lower than a record 4.8m in June, but better than the 1.6m economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast.
The dollar, which has fallen by more than 6 per cent against a basket of trading partners’ currencies this year, strengthened 0.5 per cent to a reading of 93.3, adding to gains it had chalked up earlier in the session. The index has declined from more than 102 in March.
US dollar rout pauses on better-than-expected jobs data
The US dollar rebounded from