Stocks ended the week mixed after the release of August’s jobs report. According to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US unemployment rose to 3.8% in August, above an expected 3.5%. Still, 187,000 new jobs were added last month, beating a forecast of 170,000.
While the Nasdaq Composite Index rose earlier in the day, it retreated to end the first day of the new month flat. The S&P 500 carved out a slender gain of 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to rise over 0.3%. Still, each major index suffered losses for the month of August.
The latest jobs data appears to come as little surprise to the Federal Reserve, according to the words of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “We expect this labor market rebalancing to continue,” Powell explained at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium last week. “Evidence that the tightness in the labor market is no longer easing could also call for a monetary policy response.”