Inventories end a good week with losses

New York

US stocks plummeted on Friday as Apple absorbed its worst loss in more than four years. Thanks to gains over the past three days, the S & P 500 has had its biggest weekly gain since March.

Apple, the world's largest technology company, was forecasting a weak business figure during the quarter and surprised investors by announcing that it would stop disclosing the quarterly iPhone sales. This has led to a decline in technology stocks. The other high-growth stocks held up well after the US and China said they had made progress in trade talks and Asian indices jumped, citing reports that the Chinese government was considering lowering taxes.

The Ministry of Labor said that employers had created an additional 250,000 jobs in October, with no sign of a slowdown in hiring. The proportion of Americans with jobs is at its highest level since January 2009, and hourly wages have also risen the most since then. Together with the high level of consumer confidence, all these elements are good indicators of economic growth and consumer spending in the months to come.

Bond yields surged after the jobs report, as investors focused on continued economic growth, which would prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more quickly.

"It was clearly a good report," said David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Wage growth, although stronger than anything recently reported, was what investors expected, Lefkowitz said. This is important because investors are still sensitive to signs of inflation that could lead to an outbreak, forcing the Federal Reserve to increase rates more aggressively. If inflation increases moderately, as it seemed in October, it's not as likely.

The S & P 500 index slipped 17.31 points, or 0.6%, to 2,723.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index fell 109.91 points, or 0.4%, to 25,270.83.

The Nasdaq composite, which has a high concentration of technology companies, lost 77.06 points, or 1%, to 7,356.99. The Russell 2000 Small Business Equity Index rose 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,547.98.

Stocks increased over the previous three days and ended the week up 2.4%.

Bond prices fell, leading to a sharp rise in yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury Note rose from 3.14% to 3.22%. Soaring interest rates last month triggered the market downturn, but investors did not seem so worried on Friday. Interest rates will also be taken into account at the Federal Reserve meeting next week. It should not raise rates in November.

Apple's sales in the last quarter and estimates for the holiday season have disappointed investors. Other major smartphone brands do not disclose the number of phones sold per quarter or the selling price. The change has raised suspicions that Apple might try to mask a slowdown in the popularity of the phone. The company says quarterly figures do not necessarily tell investors the strength of its business. Apple derives most of its revenue from iPhone sales and lately, it has increased its profits by selling more expensive models. Apple has collapsed 6.6% to 207.48 USD.