Markets fall as US reports slower wage growth

Markets were mostly lower on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.1 percent. However, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent.

A report on Friday showed that the US economy added 145,000 new jobs in December, fewer than the 266,000 gained in the previous month.

“While disappointing on the headline, today’s payroll miss is unlikely to change the outlook for the U.S. economy as the results are consistent with economic output chugging along at trend pace,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management.

Similarly, Ulas Akincilar, head of trading at online trading platform INFINOX, said that “at this stage of the economic cycle, the U.S. is still enjoying an impressively strong pace of job growth”.

However, he also noted a “slowing pace of wage growth” and said that “could steadily become a brake on the wider U.S. economy”.