US stocks tumble after weak job data, oil price surges

New York, March 6, 2026 (AFP)
Wall Street stocks tumbled early Friday following a poor US jobs report as oil prices shot higher due to supply disruption from the Middle East war.
The US economy shed 92,000 jobs last month, in a sharp reversal from the job growth of the previous month, lagging analyst estimates by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" as the only acceptable outcome to end hostilities as Brent oil prices surged above $90 a barrel, reaching its highest level in almost two years.
About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial average was down 1.8 percent at 47,075.16.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent to 6,729.00 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent to 22,429.55.
"We know that there's weakness in the labor market and this is further evidence of that," B. Riley Wealth's Art Hogan said of the weak employment figures.
Higher oil prices are "a constraint on spending in an economy even with energy independence," Hogan said. "Consumers will have less to spend on other things if they're spending more on energy product."

Sumber : AFP