New York: Wall Street stocks dropped Friday after a solid US jobs report for July lifted expectations the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,374.50, down 45.25 points (0.26 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 5.74 (0.28 percent) at 2,077.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.90 (0.26 percent) to 5,043.54.
The Labor Department said the US economy added 215,000 jobs last month and that unemployment held steady at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.
The report brought the average monthly jobs gains to 235,000 over the past three months, heightening expectations that the Fed could raise its near-zero federal funds rate as early as next month.
"The report is actually positive," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. "Perhaps it`s strong enough to elicit a Fed reaction with a rate hike, but it`s not so strong as to excite economists."
