Major U.S. stock indices closed lower on Friday and registered weekly losses, driven by a surge in oil prices and an unexpected decline in February's non-farm payrolls data coupled with a rising unemployment rate. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell approximately 3%, the S&P 500 dropped about 2%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.24%. At the closing bell, the Dow was down 453.19 points, or 0.95%, at 47,501.55. The Nasdaq fell 361.31 points, or 1.59%, to 22,387.68, while the S&P 500 lost 90.69 points, or 1.33%, to 6,740.02.
Technology stocks were broadly lower. NVIDIA (NVDA) fell over 3%, Amazon.com (AMZN) dropped 2.62%, Apple (AAPL) declined 1.09%, Tesla Motors (TSLA) decreased 2.17%, Alphabet (GOOG) slipped 0.87%, Microsoft (MSFT) was down 0.42%, and Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) fell 2.38%.
In European markets, Germany's DAX 30 index fell 177.53 points, or 0.75%, to 23,596.56. The UK's FTSE 100 dropped 127.53 points, or 1.22%, to 10,286.41. France's CAC 40 declined 52.31 points, or 0.65%, to 7,993.49. The Euro Stoxx 50 index decreased 57.44 points, or 0.99%, to 5,725.45. Spain's IBEX 35 fell 160.14 points, or 0.93%, to 17,085.06, and Italy's FTSE MIB lost 441.05 points, or 0.99%, to 44,167.50.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.62%, while South Korea's KOSPI index saw a slight gain. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 1.62%.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin fell over 3.6% to $68,330.49, and Ethereum declined more than 4.2% to $1,984.77.
Oil prices surged, with WTI crude rising 12% on Friday to settle just below $91 per barrel, marking its largest single-day gain in nearly six years. Brent crude closed near $93 per barrel. Barclays stated on Friday that Brent prices could test $120 per barrel if the Middle East conflict persists for several more weeks. The bank added, "These figures may seem high, especially given the widespread pessimism about the oil outlook at the start of the year, but we reiterate that current fundamentals are stronger and risks are greater than during the Russia-Ukraine conflict—where we witnessed prices reaching these levels."
The U.S. dollar index fell 0.34% to 98.982. By the close of New York forex trading, one euro bought $1.1606, up from $1.1583. One pound sterling traded at $1.3400, up from $1.3328. One U.S. dollar was worth 157.74 Japanese yen, down from 157.77, and traded at 0.7770 Swiss francs, down from 0.7827. It was also worth 1.3596 Canadian dollars, down from 1.3697, and 9.1855 Swedish krona, down from 9.2657.
In metals, spot gold rose 1.8% to $5,174.77 per ounce, and spot silver increased 2.7% to $84.509.
On the macroeconomic front, U.S. February non-farm payrolls unexpectedly turned negative, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. Job losses were attributed to healthcare worker strikes and severe winter weather. The report showed a loss of 92,000 jobs last month, with January's figure revised down to a loss of 126,000. Market forecasts had ranged from a loss of 9,000 jobs to a gain of 125,000. Beyond the strikes and weather, the decline also represented a pullback from January's strong growth, which economists said was boosted by updates to the business birth-death model. Strikes in California and Hawaii have now ended. However, after a low point in 2025, the labor market is beginning to stabilize, with economists attributing recent volatility to uncertainty from large-scale tariff policies.
U.S. retail sales unexpectedly contracted in January, dampened by weak auto dealer activity and weather-related disruptions. Unadjusted for inflation, retail sales fell 0.2% in January, following a flat reading in December. Excluding autos, sales were largely unchanged. Seven out of thirteen categories recorded declines. Auto sales fell 0.9%, while sales at clothing stores, gas stations, and health and personal care stores also decreased. A prolonged winter storm brought heavy snow and ice to the central and eastern U.S., likely hindering shoppers and causing significant flight cancellations and power outages.
Federal Reserve officials indicated a patient approach to interest rates. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack stated that with inflation still elevated, she sees no immediate need to adjust the current monetary policy stance, suggesting rates should remain unchanged for a considerable time. Similarly, another Fed official, Collins, stated there is no urgent need to change policy and that clear evidence of declining inflation would be needed before considering further rate cuts. She expects inflation to slowly return to the 2% target and rates to remain stable for some time. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman suggested the weaker-than-expected February jobs report might tilt her towards supporting further rate cuts to support the labor market.
Saudi Arabia has intensified direct communication channels with Iran in an effort to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, according to European officials. The talks, supported by several European and Middle Eastern countries, involve security officials and diplomats, though Iran has shown little willingness to negotiate with the U.S. or Israel so far.
OpenAI released an AI agent security tool designed to help teams identify and fix vulnerabilities in large codebases, a move that could impact traditional cybersecurity firms. The tool, named Codex Security, competes with similar offerings and has already been used to scan open-source repositories. Its announcement last month contributed to declines in cybersecurity stocks.
In corporate news, Oracle (ORCL) and OpenAI terminated plans to expand a flagship data center in Texas. Following the breakdown in negotiations, Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) is considering leasing the expansion site, with NVIDIA (NVDA) involved in facilitating the deal and providing a deposit to ensure its chips are used. Separately, bitcoin treasury company MicroStrategy (MSTR) disclosed its top ten institutional shareholders, which include The Vanguard Group (8.12%), Capital Research & Management (7.7%), and BlackRock Fund Advisors (3.64%).
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