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Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened lower after a stronger than expected jobs report for May reinforced the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates by half-percentage point increments in both June and July.
At 9:47 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 292 points or 0.9%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.3% and the NASDAQ Composite fell 1.9%.
The economy added 390,000 jobs in May, more than the 325,000 expected, and the unemployment rate stood around 3.6%, the same as the prior month.
Despite the positive news on the jobs front, companies are bracing for a slowdown. Tech companies have disclosed plans to slow or freeze hiring, and a few have said they were cutting some jobs. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is reportedly in the latter camp. The electric car maker’s shares fell 6% in early trading after a Reuters report that CEO Elon Musk wants to cut 10% of jobs at the company, citing an email in which Musk said he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy. A few days ago, Musk told employees to return to the office 40 hours a week or find a new job.
Shares of Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) rose nearly 3% after a report the department store received bids from private equity firm Sycamore Partners and retail holding company Franchise Group (NASDAQ:FRG).
Oil was flat a day after OPEC and allies agreed to raise production in July and August. Crude Oil WTI Futures traded around $116 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude slipped 0.1% to around $117.45 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 0.5% to $1,863 an ounce.
