Markets fall, US labour shortages “widespread”

Markets fell on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 tumbled 2.0 percent and the Nikkei 225 plunged 3.1 percent.

The Nasdaq Composite came off early lows though to end 0.1 percent lower.

A report on Tuesday showed that job openings in the US rose 597,000, or 8 percent, to a record high of 8.12 million, but hires rose just 215,000, or 3.7 percent, to slightly more than 6 million.

Michael Pearce, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said that the report showed that “labor shortages are widespread, pushing up prices and potentially acting as a brake on the recovery”.

Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist for Prudential Financial, said the report suggests “the need to boost wages”.