US close: Stocks lower as jobs slump, oil rallies toward four‑year highs

Major indices closed lower on Friday after February's non‑farm payrolls report delivered an unexpected downside surprise and Donald Trump called for the "unconditional surrender" of Iran.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.95% at 47,501.55, while the S&P 500 shed 1.33% to 6,740.02 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.59% at 22,387.68.

The Dow closed 453.19 points lower on Friday, extending heavy losses recorded in the previous session.

Friday's primary focus was news that the US economy shed 92,000 jobs in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the largest decline in four months and a sharp miss when compared to expectations for a 59,000 gain. Revisions further weakened the picture, with December's figure cut by 65,000, turning a previously reported gain into a 17,000 loss, while January was revised down by 4,000 to 126,000. Across December and January, revisions left payrolls lower by 69,000 than earlier estimates. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in February, up from 4.3% in January, while the labour force participation rate declined to 62% from 62.1%.

Oil prices also continued to draw investor attention, ticking up again early on Friday as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains on hold, with West Texas Intermediate up 12.21% at $90.90 per barrel, while Brent crude was 8.52% higher at $92.69 a barrel, putting crude prices on a course for their biggest weekly percentage gain in four years. Friday's rally in oil prices came after Donald Trump said he was not looking to strike a deal to end the US-Iran war without an "unconditional surrender" from the Middle Eastern nation.

Separately, Qatar's energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, told the Financial Times that Gulf energy producers could be forced to call force majeure in the coming days, a move that could send oil to as much as $150 a barrel. He warned that the conflict in the Middle East could "bring down the economies of the world."

"If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted," said al-Kaabi. "Everybody's energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply."

Elsewhere on the macro front, retail sales slipped 0.2% in January, according to the Census Bureau, easing back after a flat reading at the end of 2025 and broadly in line with expectations for a 0.3% decline. It marked the first monthly drop since October. On an annualised basis, retail sales were still 3.2% higher than a year earlier.

On another note, business inventories rose 0.1% month-on-month in December, according to the Census Bureau, following a revised flat reading in November, in line with analysts' estimates. On a yearly basis, total business inventories rose 1.6% in December.

No major corporate earnings were released on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Boeing Co. (BA) $231.11 4.08%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $258.85 0.90%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $202.11 0.36%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $240.40 0.32%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $328.06 0.19%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $408.96 0.16%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $189.94 0.02%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $77.04 0.01%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $0.00 0.00%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $0.00 0.00%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $43.42 -5.16%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $680.90 -3.57%
American Express Co. (AXP) $301.00 -2.02%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $78.64 -1.94%
3M Co. (MMM) $153.41 -1.79%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $57.01 -1.74%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $821.42 -1.68%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $257.46 -1.41%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $289.48 -1.39%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $33.28 -1.30%

S&P 500 - Risers

Intuit Inc. (INTU) $481.17 5.79%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $115.78 4.51%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $100.85 4.10%
Boeing Co. (BA) $231.11 4.08%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $226.24 3.64%
Kroger Co. (KR) $74.11 3.55%
Broadridge Fin Sol (BR) $196.88 3.14%
News Corp Class B (NWS) $27.70 3.01%
RTX Corporation (RTX) $209.76 2.89%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $24.54 2.57%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Gap Inc. (GAP) $23.28 -14.41%
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) $38.29 -13.53%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $199.33 -10.16%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $213.39 -8.89%
Corning Inc. (GLW) $123.29 -8.50%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $1,344.55 -8.04%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $324.74 -7.94%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $11.18 -7.83%
Blackrock Inc. (BLK) $955.45 -7.69%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $370.30 -7.64%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

JD.com, Inc. (JD) $27.03 8.21%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $54.00 6.99%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $481.17 5.79%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $100.85 4.10%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $226.24 3.64%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $165.22 3.18%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $24.54 2.57%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $151.04 2.54%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $117.82 2.53%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $203.61 2.34%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $199.33 -10.16%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $213.39 -8.89%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $1,344.55 -8.04%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $324.74 -7.94%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $11.18 -7.83%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $370.30 -7.64%
Qvc Group Inc Series A (QVCGA) $3.15 -7.35%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $1,292.80 -7.05%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $64.77 -7.05%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $245.25 -7.01%