Stocks rocked in their worst day since October 2008

pulse

February 2, 2018 7:39 PM

Stocks are getting slammed as a number of economic indicators disappoint.

Stocks got slammed, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing down more than 600 points.
Tech stocks reported mostly disappointing earnings.
Job numbers were good, but may
be too good for some economists.
Oil prices slid.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 666 points in its biggest point decline since October 2008, when the Troubled Asset Relief Program didn't pass, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Its 2.56% decline was the biggest percentage slide since Brexit.

The big drop came after some of the largest companies in the world reported disappointing earnings for the holiday quarter. Of the mega-cap tech stocks that reported this week, only Amazon had a solid quarter, as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all had blemishes in their reports.

The Labor Department reported strong numbers on Friday, as the US economy added 200,000 jobs when economists were predicting 180,000. Average hourly earnings rose 2.9% year-over-year, the largest since the recession. That led some economists to wonder if the labor market is overheating.

The strong wages and job growth numbers ran the 10-year yield up to 2.85%, its highest in four years. It also caused Wall Street economists to strengthen their predictions of three rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year. The hikes would be one way for the Fed to try and pour cold water on a red-hot market.

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was in decline on Friday as well, pulling back toward the $65 mark it crossed in January. The 0.5% decline in the price of oil followed a rare earnings miss from Exxon, which fell 6.66%. The oil company missed on earnings and revenue expectations, which has happened only three other times in the last four years.

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