Stocks Ended Lower as Jobs Data Made Fed Move Unclear

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Friday, as highly anticipated monthly jobs report intensified the debate about the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 272.38 points, or 1.66%, to 16,102.38, recording a 3.3% loss over the week. The S&P 500 fell 29.91 points, or 1.53%, to 1,921.22 and fell 3.4% over the week. The Nasdaq Composite was down 49.58 points, or 1.05%, to 4,683.92 and posted a 3% weekly loss.

U.S. payrolls rose less than expected in August, but a drop in the unemployment rate to a near 7-1/2-year low of 5.1 percent and an acceleration in wages kept alive prospects of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike later this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased 173,000 last month as the manufacturing sector lost the most jobs since July 2013, the Labor Department said on Friday.

Kraft has expanded its recall of individually wrapped American cheese tenfold after two more consumers reported choking on the wrapper, the company announced Thursday.

Aman S. Kothari, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) senior vice president, global controller and chief accounting officer, is leaving on Sept. 11, the Internet company said Friday in a filing.