Wall Street stocks are falling on Friday as investors
consider the downside of the still-strong US job market.

The S&P 500 was 65.64 points or 1.57% down to
4,111.18 in morning trading after a report showed employers hired more wore workers
in May than economists expected.

While it is a positive sign for the economy amid concerns
about a possible recession, several investors saw it as keeping the Federal
Reserve on its path to increasing interest rates aggressively.

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Such measures would slow down the economy in a bid to
ultimately knock down high inflation, and the Fed risks causing a recession if
it moves too quickly or too far. Meanwhile, higher interest rates put downward
pressure on stocks and other investments.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 323.14 points
or 0.97% at 32,925.14. The Nasdaq Composite was 283.73 points or 2.30% at
12,033.17.

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Bitcoin also fell, as a measure of fear in the stock
market rose, even though some glass-half-full signals for inflationary
pressures were buried within the jobs data.

It is a reversal from Thursday’s market movement when a
narrower report on the US jobs market came in weaker than expected. That
triggered speculation that the Federal Reserve may consider a pause in raising
rates later this year, and the hopes for a less-aggressive Fed sent stocks
surging.

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Treasury yields surged after initially swinging after
Friday’s report, which showed employers added 390,000 jobs last month against
expectations for 322,500. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to
move with expectations for Fed action, rose to 2.66% from 2.62% just before the
reports’ release.

The 10-year yield, which tracks expectations for
longer-term growth and inflation, surged to 2.94% from 2.91%, after earlier
surging as high as 2.99%.

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The report showed some indicators that analysts said
could ultimately get the Fed to be less aggressive and the mixed data could
lead markets to swing through Friday. The S&P 500 swung between losses of
0.8% and 1.4% in the first half-hour of trading.

Average wages for workers were slightly weaker in the
previous month than economists expected. Even though that’s discouraging for
people watching grocery prices and gas prices rise faster than their paychecks,
it could lessen future inflation pressure across the economy. Additionally, the
nation’s job growth declined in May, even if it was better than expectations.

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Almost four out of five stocks in the S&P 500 fell
amid rising interest rate fears, with the heaviest losses hitting technology
stocks and other big winners of the previous low-rate world.

Tesla fell 6.5% after its CEO, Elon Musk, said he was
considering layoffs in light of concerns about the economy. Tesla is the
fifth-largest company in the S&P 500, so its movements affect the index
more.

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Wall Street’s benchmark index is moving towards its
eighth weekly loss in the last nine. The exception in that stretch was last
week when the stock surged amid speculation that the Fed would consider a pause
in rate hikes in September.