Stocks are getting slammed, with the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 500 points. Tech stocks reported mostly disappointing earnings. Job numbers were good, but may be too good for some economists. Oil prices are slipping. Watch the price of the Dow move in real time here. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 508.71 points, or 1.88%, in its biggest slide since May. The big drop come after some of the largest companies in the world reported disappointing earnings for the holiday quarter. Of the mega-cap tech stocks that reported this week, only Amazon had a quarter to be proud of, as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all had blemishes in their reports. The Labor Department reported strong job numbers on Friday, adding 200,000 jobs when economists were predicting 180,000. Average hourly earnings rose 2.9% year-over-year, the largest since the recession. That led some economists to wonder if the labor market is overheating. The strong wages and job growth numbers ran the the 10-year yield up to 2.85%, its highest in four year. It also caused Wall Street economists to strengthen their predictions of three rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year. The hikes would be one way for the Fed to try and pour cold water on a red-hot market. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was in decline on Friday as well, pulling back toward the $65 mark it crossed in January. The 0.5% decline in the price of oil followed a rare… [Read full story]
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