While you were sleeping: Wall St slides on oil, jobs

Wall Street fell, erasing earlier gains, as oil slid and a record number of US job openings made investors wonder if the US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates next week after all.

Sliding oil prices hit West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude, which dropped more than 3%, amid concern about excess supply.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 239.11 points, or 1.45%, at 16,253.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 1.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1.15%.

Slides in shares of Chevron and those of Procter & Gamble of 2% and 1.4% respectively led the Dow lower.

"Investors are still looking for policy developments out of China, and are also wary of what might come out of the Fed next week," Alabama-based BB&T Wealth Management senior vice president Bucky Hellwig told Reuters.

A US Labor Department report showed job openings rose more than expected to a record in July, climbing by 430,000 to 5.75 million.

"The number of job openings now signals the labour market is unable to supply the people companies need," UK-based Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson says in a research note. "Usually, that means wages will accelerate, though the evidence for that now is mixed."

The figures followed last week's disappointing non-farm payrolls report, complicating bets as to whether US Federal Reserve policy makers will decide to raise rates when they meet next week.

"I think the Fed will go this year," Craig Collins, managing director of rates trading at Bank of Montreal in London, told Bloomberg. "September is becoming less and less likely, but I think they will move 25 basis points between now and the end of the year."

As expected, Apple unveiled its latest iPhone model, a bigger iPad, and a new TV device. The stock last traded 0.9% lower.

US Treasurys gained. The Treasury's $US21 billion sale of 10-year notes drew healthy demand, which also bodes well for Thursday's auction of $US13 billion of 30-year bonds.

"The long end of the yield curve has been beaten pretty badly lately and real money investors found some value here," Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jeffries & Co, told Reuters.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 1.3% advance from the previous close. Germany's DAX Index increased 0.3%, while France's CAC 40 Index rose 1.4%, as did the UK's FTSE 100 Index.

In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average posted its biggest percentage gain since October 2008. The average surged 1343.43 points, or 7.7%, to 18,770.51, the largest point rise since January 1994.

Updated at 9am for Wall Street close.

(BusinessDesk)