Stocks Falter After Jobs Data

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Friday as investors weighed weaker-than-estimated jobs growth for clues on the economy’s
strength and the timing of any Federal Reserve interest-rate increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dropped 11.11
points, or 0.07%, to 17,058.47. The S&P 500 was off 0.44 point, or 0.02%, to 1,997.21. The Nasdaq Composite was up 3.41 points, or 0.07%, to 4,565.70.

U.S. job growth slowed down sharply in August and more Americans gave up the hunt for work, giving a cautious Federal Reserve more reasons to wait a bit longer before raising interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls increased 142,000 last month, the smallest increase in eight months, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.1 percent as people dropped out of the labour force.

Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO) rejected Dollar General Corp’s (DG) $9.1 billion sweetened takeover offer, saying it was not
reasonably likely to be completed on the terms proposed.

Kroger Co. on Friday said it is looking to hire 20,000 permanent employees for its growing chain of supermarkets. The Cincinnati company–one of the largest grocery retailers in the U.S., with more than 375,000 employees–has been on the path to expansion
in recent years, largely through acquisitions.