LONDON/NEW YORK: Global stocks fell Friday after the US jobs report showed hiring fell in April to its slowest pace in seven months — a sign of weaker growth that could delay the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate hike.

France’s CAC 40 fell 1.6 per cent to 4,251, and Germany’s DAX lost 1 per cent to 9,754. Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.9 per cent lower to 6,063.

US stocks retreated a fourth day, with the S&P 500 poised for its first back-to-back weekly drop since February, after the smallest jobs gain in seven months raised doubts about the strength of the world’s largest economy.

The monthly US jobs report showed the world’s largest economy added 160,000 jobs in April, below the average increase of 200,000 over the past three months. The slower pace may raise uncertainty over the economy’s growth, though wages showed signs of picking up. Overall, the data suggests the Fed may be marginally less likely to raise its interest rates again next month.

“Today’s US jobs report was a bit of a mixed bag,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. “Of course we can often see a lot of volatility in the immediate aftermath of the data and only once the dust has settled do we see what investors really think of the numbers.”

Earlier, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3 per cent to close at 16,106.72 as Tokyo resumed trading after the three-day “Golden Week” national holidays. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.2 per cent higher to 5,292.00, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.7 per cent to 20,109.87. The Shanghai Composite sank 2.8 per cent to 2,913.25. Markets were closed in South Korea for a national holiday.

Benchmark US crude oil lost 45 cents to $43.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 54 cents on Thursday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was down 75 cents at $44.26 a barrel in London.

The euro fell to $1.1440 from $1.1490 and the dollar declined to 106.52 yen from 107.10 yen.

The S&P 500 lost 0.4 per cent to 2,043.13 at 9.36am in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 63.51 points to 17,597.20. The S&P 500, which is headed for its longest losing streak in almost three months, is down 1.1 per cent this week.

The Labor Department report today showed American employers added 160,000 workers in April, trailing the 200,000 jobs economists estimated and lower than the revised 208,000 gain in March. The jobless rate, projected to ease, stayed at 5 per cent, while wage growth accelerated.

The data adds to speculation the Federal Reserve will stick to a gradual pace of tightening monetary policy as the central bank weighs when to next raise interest rates. While traders were pricing in a 10 per cent chance of higher borrowing costs next month, the odds fell to just 4 per cent after the jobs report. February 2017 is now the first month with an even probability of a rate increase.

“This jobs report suggests there’s some risk to the labour market. The last time we got a number that was this weak was January and we all know what happened after that,” said Steve Chiavarone, a portfolio manager with Federated Investors in New York. “We didn’t think there was a very good shot the Fed was going to raise rates before June and now there’s less of a shot.”

The S&P 500 has retreated about 2.8 per cent since its high on April 20, halting a rebound that lifted it as much as 15 per cent from a February low. Concerns over lacklustre corporate earnings and signs of tepid economic growth provided little incentive for further gains in risky assets.

Investors are also watching the tail end of the earnings season, with more than 85 per cent of S&P 500 companies having already announced. While about 75 per cent of the firms that have reported so far have beaten profit forecasts and 54 per cent have exceeded sales expectations, analysts are still projecting an 8.2 per cent decline in first-quarter earnings.

Among companies moving today, Square Inc. plunged 15 per cent on concerns about financing for its small-business customer-loan program. GoPro Inc. slid 2.1 per cent after saying it sees “modest” growth in the second quarter. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. dropped 3.3 per cent after saying it’s creating a committee to oversee drug pricing as the company seeks to rest its strategy.

Meanwhile, Herbalife Ltd. surged 11 per cent after saying it’s in late-stage talks to resolve a Federal Trade Commission probe into whether the nutrition company is a pyramid scheme.