Wall St. Slips as Costco Weighs, Jobs Data Disappoints<br />Win Thin said that I think most people realized going in<br />that the headline numbers would be distorted because of the storms, but the surprise was the average hourly earnings,<br />(Reuters) - Wall Street was lower on Friday morning as declines in Costco and energy shares added to the dour mood set by a report<br />that showed the first drop in U. S. jobs in seven years.<br />The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report showed nonfarm payrolls fell by 33,000 in September as Hurricanes Harvey<br />and Irma left displaced workers temporarily unemployed and delayed hiring.<br />However, a bright spot was the better-than-expected rise in average wages, up 0.5 percent,<br />compared with a 0.3 percent increase estimated by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.<br />ET (1458 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 35.02 points, or 0.15 percent, at 22,740.37.
