US stocks dip as March job growth lags

The market reacted to US jobs report and news of Pentagon missile strikes on Syria

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks finished modestly lower on Friday, digesting a lacklustre US jobs report and news of Pentagon missile strikes on Syria that lifted defence shares. The Labour Department reported that the US added just 98,000 jobs in March, far below the expected amount, while unemployment fell to 4.5%, its lowest level in nearly 10 years. President Donald Trump’s decision to order military strikes on Syria plunges Washington deeper into the country’s tragedy, although officials said it does not mark a new strategy to oust Basharal Assad by force. The move came as Trump met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time in a closely watched summit at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2017.

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