Nasdaq ends down 2.6% as US stocks slip after jobs data

AFP reported, quoting Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare that the lackluster job growth "played right into the market's worries about (economic) slowing."

The analyst noted that September has been a historically tepid period for equities.

After a muted opening, the Wall Street stocks lost ground throughout the session, finishing near lows for the day.

The broad-based S&P 500 ended at 5,408.42, down 1.7 percent for the day and 4.2 percent for the week, according to AFP.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.6 percent to 16,690.83, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.0 percent to 40,345.41, reports AFP.

The United States reportedly added an estimated 142,000 jobs last month, a rise from a poor July figure but below analysts estimates.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate of the US, the world's biggest economy, dropped slightly from 4.3 percent to 4.2 percent.

The report comes as markets eye an expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut, as reported by AFP.

Following the data, futures markets increased the odds of a smaller 25-basis-point reduction in rates instead of one twice that size, reports AFP.

The news agency reported, quoting Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, that Friday's data was consistent with "a weakening labour market, but not weak yet."

"The mood in the market has shifted toward risk off, and it's never 100 percent clear why markets shift their mood like this," Sosnick was quoted as saying by AFP.

Among individual companies, semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc slumped 10.4 percent on disappointment over the chip company's revenue forecast.