NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks fell on Friday despite of better-than-expected October jobs data as the sell-off in material and energy sectors weighed down the market.
When the market closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 139.46 points, or 1.05 percent, to 13,093.16. The Standard & Poor' s 500 dropped 13.39 points, or 0.94 percent, to 1,414.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 37.93 points, or 1.26 percent, to 2, 982.13.
Major indexes opened higher as the highly-anticipated monthly payrolls number came in stronger than expected.
According to the Labor Department, the economy added 171,000 jobs in October, beating expectations. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate slightly rose to 7.9 percent up from 7.8 percent, but investors believed the increase was because that more people were coming back to the market to look for jobs.
A separate report also showed new orders for manufactured goods climbed at the fastest pace in more than a year, said the Commerce Department.
However, stocks erased gains in later trading, as selloff in the energy and material sectors offset the positive economic data.
U.S. crude prices fell sharply to the lowest point in almost four months as the government and suppliers took measures to deal with the fuel shortage in Northeast U.S. caused by Hurricane Sandy, dragging related energy stocks down.
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