Stocks turned lower on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday, shedding all their gains from an early rally that followed the release of the government’s latest job market update. The report, which showed employers slowed their hiring in August, initially put traders in a buying mood, stoking cautious optimism that the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates as aggressively in its ongoing bid to tame inflation. But the gains faded by mid-afternoon.
A late burst of buying erased some of the stock market’s losses Thursday, leaving indexes mixed on Wall Street at the closing bell.
Stocks are modestly lower in choppy afternoon trading Wednesday as Wall Street closes the books on a rocky August that started off strong, but left the market deeper in the red.
