U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index dipping more than 1,100 points on Friday. Beijing unveiled a retaliatory 34% tariff on U.S. goods—mirroring the rate announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday—deepening fears of a full-blown trade war.

The Dow traded down 4.03% to 38,909.97 while the NASDAQ fell 4.94% to 15,733.18. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 4.79% to 5,138.01.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Real estate shares fell by just 2.9% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy shares tumbled by 7.3%.

Top Headline

In March, nonfarm payrolls surged by 228,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The outcome is well above the three-month average of 195,000 and topped economists’ forecasts of 135,000. February's employment growth was downwardly revised to 117,000.

Equities Trading UP

XChange TEC.INC ( XHG ) shares shot up 7% to $0.7943. XChange TEC.INC ( XHG ) announced the acquisition of a Hong Kong-based insurance brokerage firm licensed by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority.

Shares of Simulations Plus, Inc. ( SLP ) got a boost, surging 6% to $25.13 as the company posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued upbeat FY25 earnings forecast.

USA Rare Earth, Inc. ( USAR ) shares were also up, gaining 15% to $7.46.

Equities Trading DOWN

NeuroOne Medical Technologies Corporation ( NMTC ) shares dropped 44% to $0.4852 following its $8 million stock offering.

Shares of Sandisk Corporation ( SNDK ) were down 23% to $29.39.

Nabors Industries Ltd. ( NBR ) was down, falling 21% to $29.06.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 7.6% to $61.88 while gold traded down 2.3% at $3,049.80.

Silver traded down 6.9% to $29.77 on Friday, while copper fell 8.1% to $4.4360.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 5.12%, Germany's DAX 40 dipped 4.95% and France's CAC 40 fell 4.26%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 5.83%, while London's FTSE 100 dipped 4.95%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 dipping 2.75% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.22%.

Economics

In March, nonfarm payrolls surged by 228,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The outcome is well above the three-month average of 195,000 and topped economists’ forecasts of 135,000. February's employment growth was downwardly revised to 117,000.

The unemployment rate unexpectedly inched higher from 4.1% to 4.2%, defying expectations for no change.

Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% from February’s pace, as predicted, and rose 3.8% year-over-year, marginally lower than the 3.9% predicted.

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