Wall Street dips due to slowing employment growth, US-China tensions

The Labor Department's closely watched report showed non-farm payrolls increased by 1.76 million in July

The S&P 500 pulled back from near six-month highs on Friday as data showed a sharp slowdown in US employment growth and President Donald Trump cranked up friction with Beijing with moves to ban WeChat and TikTok.

The Labour Department's closely watched report showed non-farm payrolls increased by 1.76 million in July. While that was better than the 1.6 million economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast, it was still sharply lower than the record 4.8 million in June.

"Does today's number imply economic conditions are significantly improved? No, it simply suggests the labor market was static in July, showing no signs of