U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite falling over 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.65% to 42,302.29 while the NASDAQ dipped 1.16% to 17,860.03. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.90% to 5,686.92.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 1.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, financial shares dipped by 1.4%.

Top Headline

The February jobs report from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, released Friday, showed a moderate increase in employment and also a slight increase in the unemployment rate.

The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in February, up from a downwardly revised 125,000 in January, but below expectations of 160,000, as tracked by Trading Economics. The unemployment rate ticked unexpectedly higher to 4.1%, above the 4.0% expected.

Equities Trading UP

Willdan Group, Inc. ( WLDN )  shares shot up 19% to $38.46 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued FY25 guidance above estimates.

Shares of SUNation Energy Inc. ( SUNE ) got a boost, surging 136% to $0.4176. SUNation Energy ( SUNE ) named James Brennan to fill the role of CFO, effective immediately, in addition to his role serving as COO.

American Public Education, Inc. ( APEI ) shares were also up, gaining 18% to $22.62 after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Genesco Inc. ( GCO ) shares dropped 22% to $25.16 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

Shares of Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( ACXP ) were down 29% to $0.4601 after the company announced a $1.1 million registered direct offering.

BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. ( BBAI ) was down, falling 21% to $3.3250 after the company reported downbeat quarterly financial results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.9% to $66.95 while gold traded up 0.4% at $2,937.80.

Silver traded down 0.8% to $33.075 on Friday, while copper fell 0.5% to $4.7815.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.40%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 1.60% and France's CAC 40 dipped 1.05%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.01%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.03%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei dipping 2.17%, China's Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling 0.57%, India's BSE Sensex falling 0.01%.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in February, up from a downwardly revised 125,000 in January, but below expectations of 160,000, as tracked by Trading Economics.

The unemployment rate ticked unexpectedly higher to 4.1%, above the 4.0% expected.

Average hourly earnings for all employees increased by 0.3% to $35.93, representing a 4.0% increase over the past 12 months.

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