U.S. stocks fall after stronger-than-expected jobs report

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report for November put a damper on hopes the Federal Reserve would ease the pace of its interest rate hikes.

At 10:22 ET (15:22 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 232 points or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.9%.

The Labor Department's report said nonfarm payrolls rose by 263,000, compared with an estimated 200,000. American employers hired more workers than expected in November and raised their pay, while layoffs raged through the tech industry.

As expected, the unemployment rate stayed the same as October, at 3.7%.

In a speech on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank could start paring down its interest rate moves as early as December, but said rates would continue to rise and might end up higher than expected. Higher for longer is a mantra repeated by several Fed officials this week as the bank tries to tame inflation.

Wall Street expects the Fed will raise rates by a half-percentage point this month, compared with the 0.75 percentage point moves it has made at each of its last four meetings.

The jobs report comes after a week of mixed economic data, including a better-than-expected reading on inflation in the form of the personal consumption expenditure index, and data that showed manufacturing activity shrank in November.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares fell 5.8% after it disappointed on revenue and profit and issued a weaker than anticipated outlook as customers such as storage equipment makers, cut down on their inventory of chips.

Oil inched higher. Crude Oil WTI Futures was up 0.6% to $81.75 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude rose 0.3% to $87.18 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 1% to $1797.