U.S. stocks open sharply lower on disappointing jobs data

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Friday as the U.S. nonfarm payroll report came out much weaker than expected.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 206.58 points, or 1.27 percent, to 16,065.43. The S&P 500 lost 21.52 points, or 1.12 percent, to 1,902.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 65.39 points, or 1.41 percent, to 4,561.69.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in September, well below market consensus of 203,000, the Labor Department announced Friday. Thus far in 2015, job growth has averaged 198,000 per month, compared with an average monthly gain of 260,000 in 2014.

In September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 1 cent to 25.09 U.S. dollars, also missing estimates.

The unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent in September. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down 0.8 percentage point and 1.3 million, respectively.

"Slower job growth, falling participation and stagnant wage growth are hardly a recipe for rate hikes, despite Williams' attempt to lower the jobs bar yesterday," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

On Thursday, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams renewed his call for an interest-rate hike "sometime later this year," citing near-full employment and rapidly rising house prices that may be a sign of excessive economic optimism.

U.S. stocks ended largely unchanged after volatile trading Thursday, as investors digested mixed economic reports amid the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief's remarks on the global economy. Endi