Weak US employment rates fuel fears of looming economic recession
Recession fears were triggered following a sharp deterioration in manufacturing activity in the United States, and were perpetuated on Friday by the latest figures from the American job market.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed the unemployment rate rising to 4.3% in July, and thus only 114,000 jobs are provided, in comparison to 179,000 the month before, which makes it the highest rate since 2021.
In Europe, the Paris Stock Exchange lost 1.61%, ending at its lowest level since November.
Milan fell by 2.55%, Frankfurt by 2.33%, London by 1.31%, Amsterdam by 3.11% and Zurich by 3.59%. The expanded European Stoxx 600 index has retreated by 2.73%.
Meanwhile on Wall Street, The tech-heavy Nasdaq index shrinked by more than 2.4%, due to disappointing results from Amazon and Intel.
Consequently, investors are abandoning stocks, as prices depend on corporate profits and would therefore be less profitable.
The economic slowdown affected also the dollar and oil prices, as the former dropped 1.05% against the euro, equals to 1.0906 dollars for one euro, and lost 1.34% against the yen, that is, 147.36 yen for a dollar.
Regarding oil prices, the price of a barrel of Brent dwindled to 3.18% (76.99 dollars), while the barrel of West Texas Intermediate dropped by 3.59% (73.57 dollars).
