The non-farm payrolls number released by the U.S. Department of Labor this morning jolted the financial markets and raised fears of an economic recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower by 250 points, or 1.87%. The Nasdaq fell by 49 points, or 1.86%. The broader S&P 500 fell by 25 points, or 1.69%. 
There were very few places to hide today as stocks plunged across the board. The consumer cyclical stocks were hit hard as investors worried about the health of the economy. Harley Davidson's earnings warning got the sector off to a bad start on the day, and the rest of the consumer cyclicals followed and accelerated their losses throughout the day. Coach Inc. (NYSE:COH) fell by 2.8% on the day, as its first analyst and investors meeting failed to motivate investors to buy the stock.
The capital goods sector dropped by over 2% today, reversing course from its strong performances of late. Construction related stocks were hit hard today. Terex Corporation (NYSE:TEX), the heavy construction company based out of Connecticut, saw its stock lose 6.21% on the day. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) shares fell by 3.05% on the day.
The technology sector was far from immune from the selling pressure today as many large cap tech stocks tumbled. Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL) shares fell by 4.57% to lead the Nasdaq lower. Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq:QCOM) dropped by 2.4%, as the wireless sector gave up recent gains. SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) was among the major flash memory stocks to fall today, losing 5.02%.
Specialty retailers fell across the board today as investors sold those stocks who are most economically sensitive. American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) shares shed 3.6% on the day. Urban Outfitters Inc. (Nasdaq:URBN) fell by 5.35%, though the decline was on light volume.
Though the bright spots were few and far between today, if there was one area that held up well today it was those companies who are the least levered to consumer spending. General Mills Inc. (NYSE:GIS) gained 0.54% on the day. Johnson and Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) eeked out a gain of 2 cents, or 0.03%.
The interesting thing about today's trading is that coming into today, many of the bulls on Wall Street were hoping for a weaker than expected jobs number today. The hope was that a weak number would make it nearly impossible for the FOMC to cut interest rates at its meeting on September 18th. The bulls got more than they bargained for today, as no one expected an employment decline. The terribly weak number led to the bears taking control of the markets because investors now wonder if the Federal Reserve is already too far behind the curve.
Bond prices surged after the employment news was released, and yields fell sharply on the day. The yield on the 10 year Treasury note fell to 4.37%, from 4.51% on Thursday.
The financial markets were certainly not helped by former Fed chief, Alan Greenspan's comments today. Greenspan said he believes the current market turmoil is identical in many ways to what occurred in 1987 right before the famous stock market crash.
Today's reports all certainly give the market plenty of reasons to be concerned. The market reaction today was normal, given that the market now needs to price in lower growth and the higher possibility of a recession. The economic data will just become even more important over the next few weeks. Hold tight, this market is liable to get very interesting.
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