Weekend markets: Downgrades hit Wall Street

Stocks on Wall Street snapped a three-day winning streak after ratings downgrades of Italy and Spain overshadowed better-than-expected US jobs data.

Shares rose early in the session after September non-farm payrolls rose more than expected and an especially weak August reading was revised higher.

But sentiment reversed when Fitch Ratings cut the euro zone's two largest economies at the centre of the sovereign-debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 20.21 points, or 0.2%, to 11103.12, but ended the week with a 1.7% gain. The drop snapped a streak of three straight triple-digit gains.

The S&P 500 index shed 0.8% to 1155.46 while the technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1% to 2479.35.

Other markets: Europe, Asia up
Europe’s efforts to shore up its financial system boosted markets before Fitch Ratings made its downgrades after the close.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.8%, to 231.99, taking its weekly advance to 2.6%.

In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 0.2%, to 5303.40, rising 3.4% for the week.

Germany’s DAX index rose 0.5%, to 5675.70, gaining 3.2% on the week, while in Paris the CAC-40 index rose 0.7%, to 3095.56, advancing 3.8% in the week.

Asian stock markets ended sharply higher.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 3.1% to 17,707.01, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 1% to 8605.62, Korea's Kospi jumped 2.9% to 1759.77 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 2.3% to 4162.9.

Mainland Chinese markets were closed all week for a holiday.

Commodities: Oil rises, gold falls
Light, sweet crude oil futures for November delivery settled 39USc, or 0.5%, higher at $US82.98 a barrel in New York in a roller-coaster session that also featured dips into negative territory.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange was 30USc higher at $US105.70 a barrel.

Gold fell as credit-rating downgrades erased the economic optimism that had boosted prices earlier in the day.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, fell $US17.40, or 1.1%, to settle at $US1635.80 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro tumbles on downgrades
The euro tumbled 1% within an hour on Friday of Fitch Ratings’ downgrades.

The Italy downgrade was not a major surprise, as both Standard & Poor's and Moody's had recently made similar moves. But Fitch's action on Spain came out of the blue. It had not put either country's rating under review.

After trading above $US1.35 before noon, the euro slumped to $US1.3390 within the next hour and more or less spent the rest of the day there.

The euro ended the week at $US1.3392, off from its high of the day of $US1.3525, compared with $US1.3438 late on Thursday. The euro was at ¥102.93 from ¥103.09.

The US dollar was at ¥76.89 from ¥76.72 late on Thursday. The UK pound was at $US1.5555 from $US1.5448, while the dollar bought 0.9275 Swiss franc from 0.9206 franc.