U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 300 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 1.62% to 47,179.83 while the NASDAQ fell 1.47% to 22,414.12. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.38% to 6,736.10.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, financial stocks dipped by 2.2%.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy lost 92,000 nonfarm payrolls in February 2026, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure marked a sharp slowdown from January’s downwardly revised 126,000 job gains and came well below economists’ expectations of 59,000.

The unemployment rate surprisingly ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4%, above forecasts of 4.3%. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings rose 0.4% month-over-month, matching January’s pace and topping consensus estimates of 0.3%.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Peraso Inc (NASDAQ:PRSO) shares shot up 99% to $1.61 after the company announced InTACT selected its 60 GHz millimeter-wave technology for a new drone Identification Friend or Foe system.
• Shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DAWN) got a boost, surging 66% to $21.16 after the company announced it will be acquired by Servier.
• Battalion Oil Corp (NYSE:BATL) shares were also up, gaining 42% to $26.94.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Calidi Biotherapeutics Inc (NYSE:CLDI) shares dropped 51% to $0.38 after the company announced the pricing of its $5.2 million offering of 10.5 million shares.
• Shares of CCH Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:CCHH) were down 47% to $0.54.
• eLong Power Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:ELPW) was down, falling 41% to $0.046 after the company announced a 1-for-80 share consolidation.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 8.3% to $87.74 while gold traded up 0.4% at $5,099.00.

Silver traded up 0.5% to $82.625 on Friday, while copper fell 0.1% to $5.7970.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 1.7%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.6%. London's FTSE 100 fell 1.4%, Germany's DAX dipped 1.7% and France's CAC 40 fell 1.5% during the session.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.62%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gaining 1.72%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.38% and India's BSE Sensex dipping 1.37%.

Economics

• The US Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index rose 0.8% month-over-month in February compared to a 2.4% gain in the previous month.
• U.S. retail sales fell by 0.2% from the previous month in January, compared to market estimates of a 0.3% decline.
• The U.S. economy lost 92,000 nonfarm payrolls in February 2026, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure marked a sharp slowdown from January’s downwardly revised 126,000 job gains and came well below economists’ expectations of 59,000.
• The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4%, above forecasts of 4.3%.
• Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% month-over-month, matching January’s pace and topping consensus estimates of 0.3%.

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