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Expectations of lower demand after revelations last month that Volkswagen falsified USA vehicle emission tests, which a few believe could affect demand for diesel cars, hit platinum prices.

The USA has experienced soft patches in job growth before in this expansion, and officials have been expecting job growth to slow from its quick pace earlier this year and last.

United States stocks opened sharply lower following the jobs report, which one leading analyst labeled “decidedly bad”.

In a speech late Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who spoke a week after the Fed delayed a long-anticipated rate hike, said she and other Fed policymakers do not expect recent global economic and financial market developments to significantly affect the central bank’s policy.

The jobless rate, which is derived from a separate survey of households, was unchanged only because 350,000 workers stopped looking for work last month and were no longer counted as part of the labour force.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 259 points in early trade, but recovered somewhat to trade 62 points, or 0.4, higher at 16,335, with losses in financials including (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ugly-jobs-report-is-punishing-financial-stocks-2015-10-02)J.P....

The best performing sector in 3Q was utilities, which was the only one of 10 S&P 500 sectors to close the quarter in positive territory.

The weak September jobs report and downward revisions to the prior two months raised fresh fears about the health of the USA economy, which appears to have weakened amid a slowing global economy and recent market turbulence.

Wall Street started the week with another round of selling, placing the market squarely in “correction” mode. This is just the latest data point out of the world’s second- biggest economy that suggests economic softening.

Banking stocks continue to reel in the wake of the Fed decision as hopes that higher rates would translate to fatter profits on loans have been dashed.

Futures on the Nasdaq exchange were down 0.5 percent.

In a speech late Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who spoke a week after the Fed delayed a long-anticipated rate hike, said she and other Fed policymakers do not expect recent global economic and financial market developments to significantly affect the central bank’s policy.

The fears were strong enough for the Fed to leave its benchmark interest rate at 0%, where it’s been since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008.

Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago has announced that the Reserve Bank’s repo rate will remain unchanged “for now”.

The Dow Jones closed down 65.21 points at 16,674, while the S&P 500 fell 5 points to 1,990.