Wall Street ends day modestly lower on risk-aversion

Major equity indexes in the U.S. closed the day modestly lower on Friday amid a risk-off mood and profit-taking ahead of the 3-day long weekend. 

Today's mixed employment report from the U.S. didn't receive a clear reaction from investors. Despite the contraction, due to the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, seen in the total nonfarm payroll employment in September, the unemployment level eased to its lowest level in more than 16 years at 4.2% while the annual wage growth advanced to 2.9%.

Commenting on today's market fluctuation "it’s been amazing how resilient our U.S. stock market has been... so there’s no surprise on a day where most people feel it was a mixed jobs report at best that the market is actually reacting in a way that makes sense,” Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, told Reuters.

In the meantime, the CBOE Volatility index .VIX, Wall Street's primary measure of volatility, rose 4.25% after news of North Korea planning to test a ballistic missile that is capable of reaching the west coast of the United States triggered a flight-to-safety. The risk-off mood in the session didn't allow the equity indexes to make a meaningful recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7.33 points, or 0.03%, to 22,768.45, the S&P 500 dropped 3.18 points, or 0.12%, to 2,548.89 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.67 points, or 0.06%, to 6,589.02.

DJI technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, writes, "in the 4 hours chart, the RSI indicator erased the extreme overbought readings, now heading marginally lower around 68, whilst the Momentum presents a neutral-to-bearish stance, but still above its mid-line, suggesting the index may correct further lower next week, particularly if it breaks below the 20 SMA in this last time frame, the immediate support at 22,701. The possibility of a downward move is correlated to North Korean headlines, although market's reaction to such risk-related events have been decreasing lately, as they become old news."

According to the analyst, supports could be seen at 22,701, 22,651 and 22,595 while resistances align at 22,790, 22,850 and 22,900.

Headlines from the NA session

• Fed's Bullard: Won't have enough data on inflation, economy, to consider a Dec rate increase
• US Dollar consolidates below 94, looks to close fourth week in a row higher
• US: FOMC minutes, CPI and retail sales - Danske Bank
• Russia's Novak: There is every possibility for joint action with Saudi Arabia to stabilize oil market
• Fed's Dudley: Still appropriate to continue to remove monpol accommodation gradually
• Atlanta Fed: GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth in Q3 eased to 2.5%
• NY Fed's GDP Nowcast stands at 1.5% for Q3 of 2017
• US NFP: Despite the negative headline, Fed still has the green light for December - Wells Fargo
• US: Storm-skewed report means nothing about anything – BBH
• CME Group FedWatch's Dec hike probability jumped above 90% on robust wage growth