Dow Drops 8 Points as Rates Jump After the September Jobs Report

On Friday, the Dow fell 8 points after the September jobs report was released. The report showed that nonfarm payrolls rose by 156,000 in September, which was higher than economists' expectations but not enough to offset August's surprise loss of jobs. Friday's report also showed that average hourly earnings rose 0.2% year-on-year, slightly beating economist expectations and further supporting consumer spending.

The five things you should know

1. The Federal Reserve raised rates this week for the third time this year to a range of 1.75%-2.00%.

2. The Fed's rate hikes may be causing stocks to fall with their newest increase. 3. With all three interest rates hikes happening this year, it is likely that more will come in 2019, which is good news for savers and bad news for borrowers. 4. Despite this being good news for savers and bad news for borrowers, the hike will help strengthen economic growth going into next year, which is something we can all agree on!

1) A strong jobs report can send rates higher

A strong jobs report can send rates higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped eight points from 26,199 to 26,191 after the Labor Department reported a better-than-expected 3.2% rise in employment and an unemployment rate of 3.7%.

2) The Fed will wait until December to hike interest rates

The Federal Reserve will wait until December to hike interest rates, according to reports. Chair Janet Yellen said that the Fed would act appropriately if inflationary pressures started to rise.

3) The stock market is down today

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down eight points today, at 24,813. The S&P 500 is also down eight points, to 2,719. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 11 points to 7,211. Investors were rattled by a strong report on U.S. jobs growth that led to a jump in interest rates.

4) Small business owners are optimistic about hiring in the third quarter of 2018

A recent survey by Intuit found that small business owners are optimistic about hiring in the third quarter of 2018. The survey revealed that 85% of small businesses plan to hire at least one employee this quarter, which is up from 73% last year.

5) The unemployment rate is at a low 3.7 percent

The unemployment rate is at a low 3.7 percent, but what does this really mean? The first thing to know is that it's not actually a percentage - it's a share of the population. So 3.7% means that 3.7 out of every 100 people in America are unemployed, or looking for work and can't find it. This doesn't mean we're out of the woods just yet, but it's not bad news either.

6) Construction spending fell 0.6 percent in August, driven by drops in both residential and nonresidential building.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 608 points or 2.2 percent to close at 23,860 points on Friday following a spike in interest rates following a disappointing jobs report.

The drop in construction spending in August was driven by drops in both residential and nonresidential building which fell 0.6 percent from July and 1.1 percent from August of last year respectively, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday morning.