Stocks Opened Sharply Lower After Jobs Data

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday as the official payrolls numbers were viewed solid enough for the Federal Reserve to consider raising rates at the September meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dropped 209.51 points, or 1.28%, to 16,165.25. The S&P 500 fell 22.41 points, or 1.15%, to 1,928.72. The Nasdaq Composite was down 44.54 points, or 0.94%, to 4,688.96.

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.

BlackBerry Ltd. shares (BBRY) rose about 4% in premarket trade Friday, after the mobile communications company said it has agreed to buy Good Technology for $425 million in cash. The deal will allow BlackBerry to offer “a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system.

Oil prices moved firmly lower on Friday, as investors awaited U.S. jobs data due later in the global day amid a lack of other cues. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October slid 42 cents, or 0.9%, to $46.33 a barrel.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) said Thursday its cloud-services unit Amazon Web Services has agreed to buy Portland, Ore.-based video software company Elemental Technologies Inc. for an undisclosed sum.