Stocks sag as US job creation disappoints, Boeing sinks

NEW YORK — Global stocks mostly drifted lower on Friday as investor appetite waned at the week’s end, US job creation disappointed and damaging new revelations weighed on Boeing.

Asian markets notched some gains for the day, however, as geopolitical tensions eased and a US-China trade deal increasingly looked like a done deal.

The US economy generated 145,000 new jobs in December, shy of a consensus forecast, while wage growth also disappointed, according to official figures released on Friday.

Meanwhile, newly released e-mails showed employees at Boeing — the largest member of New York’s benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average — mocking aviation regulators and the design of 737 MAX jets, which have been grounded after fatal crashes.

“It’s not that we’re seeing a big selloff as much as we’re seeing a lack of buyers heading into the weekend after some obvious geopolitical turmoil last weekend,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told AFP.

London, Frankfurt and Paris also fell. Earlier, most Asian stock markets closed higher but investors struggled to maintain a rally triggered by easing US-Iran tensions the previous day.

The toning down of rhetoric from US President Donald Trump and Tehran following an Iranian missile attack on US positions in Iraq — in retaliation for the US killing of a top Iranian commander — soothed concerns about a possible conflict in the Middle East and lit a fire under global equities on Thursday.

Looking ahead to next week, China and the United States put pen to paper on their mini trade deal.

Oil prices lost ground. There appeared to be little market reaction to claims by Canada that Iran shot down an airliner in Tehran this week, killing 176 people.