Slightly lower lock for New York stock exchanges

The stock exchanges in New York were closed in red on Friday, with the price losses earlier on the trading day being largely reduced. The sentiment among investors on Wall Street was depressed by disappointing Chinese export figures and the disappointing monthly job report from the US government.

The leading Dow-Jones index ended 0.1 percent lower at 25.450.24 points. The broad S & P 500 lost 0.2 percent to 2743.06 points and the technology counselor Nasdaq lost 0.2 percent to 7408.14 points.

Job growth in the United States almost fell silent in February. Job growth was 20,000 while economists had reckoned on 180,000 new jobs. In January there was still an adjusted increase of 311,000 jobs. Unemployment fell slightly to 3.8 per cent and was therefore close to the lowest point in fifty years.

The job report is closely monitored by investors, because the developments on the labor market may influence the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.

Furthermore, the trade talks between the US and China continued to occupy their minds. There is still no date for a summit meeting to seal an agreement between the economic superpowers. Companies that depend on trade with China such as Caterpillar fell to 1.1 percent.

Technology funds such as Amazon, Netflix and Google parent concern Alphabet delivered up to 0.9 percent. Oil producers such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips dropped to 3.7 percent, with minuses for oil service providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton to 2.8 percent.

There were also figures about the US housing market. Housing rose more strongly than expected in January, after a clear dip in December.

The euro was worth 1.1234 dollars, against 1.12339 dollars at the end of trade in Europe. The price of a barrel of American oil lost 1 percent to 56.10 dollars. Brent oil went down 0.8 percent to $ 65.80.