After moving sharply lower at the start of trading on Friday, stocks have seen some further downside over the course of the morning. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory, pulling back further off Tuesday's highs.
Much of the weakness on Wall Street stems from a negative reaction to the Labor Department's report on U.S. employment in the month of June. While the report showed a continued increase in employment, the pace of job growth fell well short of economist estimates.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 80,000 jobs in June compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 100,000 jobs. The report also showed that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent.
Software stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, resulting in a 3.1 percent loss by the Dow Jones Software Index. With the loss, the index is pulling back further off the two-month closing high that it set on Tuesday.
Within the software sector, business software developer Informatica (INFA) has tumbled by 28.8 percent after forecasting weaker than expected second quarter results.
Networking, semiconductor, and computer hardware stocks have also come under pressure, reflecting weakness throughout the tech sector.
Steel, gold, and defense stocks are also posting steep losses in late morning trading, moving lower along with most of the major sectors.
The major averages have edged up off their lows for the session in the past few minutes but continue to post steep losses. The Dow is down 156.52 points or 1.2 percent at 12,740.15, the Nasdaq is down 41.25 points or 1.4 percent at 2,934.87 and the S&P 500 is down 15.04 points or 1.1 percent at 1,352.54.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.