Investing.com - Wall Street opened lower on Friday, as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stocks and trade war concerns outweighed better-than-expected jobs numbers.
The S&P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.28%, to 2,870.12 as of 9:39 AM ET (13:39 GMT), while the Dow decreased 99 points, or 0.38%, to 25,896.61 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 26 points, or 0.33%, to 7,896.19.
Tesla’s chief accounting officer resigned, according to a regulatory filing from the company, and its human resources director will not return from a leave of absence. The luxury car maker fell 8.11% after the news.
Investors are also waiting for news of U.S. tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that could go into effect today. Chinese officials said the country would retaliate if the new tariffs are imposed.
Meanwhile, employment in the U.S. in August beat forecasts, as nonfarm payrolls rose by 201,000. The numbers support expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates at its meeting Sept. 25-26.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) rose 5.82% after its earnings came in better than expected, while semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) increased 2.46%.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s, DAX fell 41 points to 0.35%, while in France the CAC 40 decreased 10 points, or 0.21%, and in London the FTSE 100 was down 80 points, or 1.10%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 dipped 20 points, or 0.61%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 72 points, or 0.79%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.06% to $1,203.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures slumped 1.30% to $66.89 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.20% to 95.18.