The Dow Jones Industrial Average sunk 559 points, falling to 24,388, while the S&P 500 declined 60 points to 2,635. Both indices were 2.2 percent in the red for the day. The Dow is now down about 4.6 percent on the week. The S&P, meanwhile, has slipped 10 percent since peaking in September.
A few factors may have propelled the downward movement. Friday's jobs report was weaker than expected: approximately 155,000 jobs were added in November and unemployment hovered near 3.7 percent, but economists were expecting a higher number of jobs to account for the uptick in seasonal hires.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average saw a 790 point drop amid confusion about the so-called trade war truce that the US and Chinese heads of states agreed to at the G-20 summit in Argentina.
Thursday’s trading session began with a dive amid fears about trade slumping, only to recover late in the session on the back of a report in the Wall Street Journal indicating the Federal Reserve may move slower in unwinding quantitative easing with higher interest rates. The Fed is mulling whether to signal a “wait and see” approach for lifting rates, WSJ reported.
A mix of trade fears and the detention of Huawei's chief financial officer by authorities in Canada added to economic skepticism in the second half of the week.