Wall Street Plummets Today: U.S. Employment Report Disappoints, Costco and Energy Sector Slides

Costco

As of Friday morning trading, Wall Street saw declines in grocery giant Costco (NASDAQ:$COST) and energy shares after a report that showed the first drop in U.S. jobs in seven years.

The Labour Department’s closely monitored employment report revealed nonfarm payrolls fell by 33,000 in September as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma left a plethora of displaced workers temporarily unemployed.

Global head of energy markets currency strategy, Brown Brothers Harriman Win Thin said: “ I think most people realized going in that the headline numbers would be distorted because of the storms, but the surprise was the average hourly earnings.”

As of 10:58 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down a whopping 35.02 points, or 0.15%, at 22,740.37. The S&P 500 was also down 7.54 points. At these levels, the index will end an eight-day gaining streak.

Shares of Costco plummeted to their lowest in nearly a month after the warehouse club retailer reported a fall in gross margins. The stock saw the biggest drag on the S&P 500.

Similarly, energy also declined 0.9% as oil prices looked to set to end a multi-week bull run amid a bout of profit taking and the return of oversupply worries.

Featured Image: depositphotos/wolterke

About the author: Jennifer is a University of Western Ontario graduate with a degree in International Business. She strives to excel as a content creator in the digital sphere, working with clients in the Finance and Tech industry to leverage clickable taglines, images, and articles in driving traffic. When not writing, Jennifer enjoys photography, copywriting, and video production.