US stocks slide following US labour data

US stocks are suffering from pressures that push most indicators on Wall Street downward, following a new batch of US employment data that shed light on the continued growth of jobs in the United States, which is moving in the opposite direction to the conditions that the Federal Reserve prefers to create in the labor market while combating inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 37,905 points after adding gains of about 100 points, or 0.3%. But the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell to 5021 after losing about 14 points, or 0.3%, with losses of the same percentage for the Nasdaq index of technology-heavy industries.

The index of change in employment in the United States issued by the Electronic Data Processing Administration (APD) increased by 192,000 jobs last April, compared to the previous reading at 206,000 jobs. Despite the decline in the reading compared to the previous one, the index confirmed the continuation of job growth to levels higher than market expectations, which indicated 175,000 jobs.

The JOLTS job opportunities index declined to 8.488 million job opportunities last April compared to the previous reading, which recorded 8.813 million job opportunities, which was lower than market expectations that indicated 8.690 million job opportunities.

Tuesday witnessed the emergence of a batch of preliminary employment data that highlighted the continued rise in wages in the United States, as the labour cost index rose to 1.2% last March, according to the quarterly reading of the index that highlighted a rise to the highest levels in one year. Wages and salaries rose by 1.1%, which raised concerns about continued wage growth and its impact on inflation.