Wall Street opens deep in red on dismal jobs data

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the last day of the week with sharp losses pressured by the disappointing nonfarm payrolls data and escalating fears over a global economic slowdown. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6% on the day, the S&P 500 was losing 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was erasing 0.82%.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported that the nonfarm payrolls increased by 20,000 in February and missed the analysts' estimate of 180,000 by a wide margin. Despite the uninspiring NFP reading, however, the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 4%. Earlier in the day, the data from China revealed the negative impact of trade tariffs with exports contracting more than 20% on a yearly basis in February and revived concerns over the global economic slowdown.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, energy is losing 2.75% to lead the losses while technology and industrials are both erasing nearly 1%. The only sector that's in the negative territory in the early trade is real estate.