- Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group
The world's biggest economy added 171,000 jobs in October, however, overall unemployment rate rose last month. The jobless rate jumped to 7.9% in October, from 7.8% in the previous month, as many people began looking for work, however, not all of them found jobs. The number of people either working or looking for work soared 578,000 last month. The better-than-expected job report may help Barrack Obama to get reelected.
"The October report... confirmed a narrative that the economy is expanding moderately," Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group, said on Friday.
"Jobs are expanding despite all this expression of business caution," said Maury Harris, chief economist at UBS Securities LLC in New York. "You continue to see improvements in people's perceptions of what's happening in the job market."
Standard & Poor's 500 lost 0.94 per cent to 1,414.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.05 per cent to 13,093.16. The Nasdaq Composite eased 1.26 per cent, or 37.93 points, to 2,982.13.
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