Higher Jobless Rate To Weigh On Wall Street

New York, NY (AHN) - Wall Street is set for a lower start on Friday as the unemployment rate soared more-than-expected to 6.1 percent in August.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the jobless rate is the highest in almost five years, as the economic growth worsens.

The report showed nonfarm payrolls declined by 84,000, compared to the projected loss of 75,000 by the market analysts on Wall Street.

While the unemployment rate has consistently increased over the period of eight months from 4.4 percent. The market analysts had projected the rate to remain unchanged from July at 5.7 percent.

The report also stated that an average hourly earnings rose more-than-expected by 7 cents or 0.4 percent, raising the year-over-year increase in hourly earnings to 3.6 percent.

At 9:00 a.m. EDT in New York, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures was trading down by 12.70 points or 1.03 percent at 1,223.90 points, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures was decreasing by 103.00 points or 0.92 percent at 11,097.00 points.

At the same time, NASDAQ- 100 Index futures was dropping by 20.75 points or 1.17 percent at 1,755.00 points.

Oil futures continued its downward fall as it declined on Friday by $1 a barrel to $106.89 a barrel on declining dollar and weakening economic growth.

On Thursday, crude for October delivery had dropped to five-month low at $107.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

According to the motorist group AAA, gasoline rates have declined to $3.674 per gallon of unleaded, compared to the record high $4.114 a gallon on July 17.

Nokia's shares plunged by 10 percent after the world's top handset maker downgraded its third-quarter mobile device market share expectations.

In economic reports, the Mortgage Bankers Association is scheduled to release information on home loan delinquencies for the second quarter at 10 a.m. EDT.

In currency trading, the yen strengthened and changed hands at 105.69 yen per U.S. dollar during early hours in Asia on Friday, but later weakened at to 106.23 yen per U.S. dollar late afternoon.