Stocks fell on Friday, driven by November's disappointing jobs report, as Wall Street wrapped up a volatile week following to discovery of the highly mutated Omicron variant. The tech-heavy Nasdaq took the biggest hit, plunging nearly 300 points lower, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.84% and 0.17%, respectively.
Despite Thursday's rebound, that saw the Dow rise more than 600 points, all three market averages fell for the week. The Dow slipped by 0.9%, while the S&P 500 fell by 1.2% and the Nasdaq lost 2.6%.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
DocuSign shares fall 40% on weak guidance:
DocuSign
The company reported Q3 billings growth of 28%, marking a major slowdown from the previous 61% growth seen in Q2. "After six quarters of accelerated growth, we saw customers return to more normalized buying patterns, resulting in a 28% year-over-year billings growth," said CEO Dan Springer in the company's earnings report.
For the current quarter, DocuSign expects revenue to be between $557 million and $563 million, falling short of Wall Street estimates for $574.2 million.
November jobs report offers a mixed bag:
The November jobs report came in mixed on Friday, as non-farm payroll did not meet consensus expectations while the unemployment and labor force participation rates topped estimates.
Non-farm payrolls increased by 210,000 last month following October's revised total of 546,000. November's print was well below the 555,000 job additions expected. However, the unemployment rate improved to 4.2% from October's 4.6%, reaching its lowest level since February 2020.
Moreover, the labor force participation rate also rose by a more-than-expected rate to reach 61.8% in November, compared to the 61.7% anticipated and October's print of 61.6%.
Here's how market benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.51% or +23.48 points to 4,600.58
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.36% or +125.06 points to 34,746.85
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.58% or +89.04 points to 15,466.81