Labor Department's data showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment surged by 256,000 in December, after jumping downwards by revised 212,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate in the U.S. edged down to 4.1% in December from 4.2% in November.

University of Michigan's preliminary data said consumer sentiment in the U.S. has unexpectedly seen a modest deterioration in the month of January, The report said the consumer sentiment index edged down to 73.2 in January from 74 in December.

Oracle, PayPal, eBay, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, MetLife and American Express closed down by 3 to 6%. Verizon, Salesforce, Caterpillar, PepsiCo, Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Wells Fargo, Apple, Accenture, P&G and Mastercard lost 2 to 3%. Wallgreens Boots Alliance shares soared nearly 28%, after the company reported earnings of $265 million in the first quarter, compared to $67 million in the year-ago quarter. Delta Air Lines climbed 9%. Whirlpool, Alaska Air, United Airlines Holdings, American Airlines, Eli Lilly, Walmart, Target and Home Depot also closed with solid gains.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1% while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.3%. Major European markets also moved to the downwards. The German DAX Index lost 0.5%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed down 0.86% and the French CAC 40 Index fell 0.79%. In the bond market, treasuries moved notably lower in reaction to the monthly jobs report. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, moved up by 7.0 basis points at 4.75%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved notably lower in reaction to the monthly jobs report. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, moved up by 7.0 bps at 4.75%.

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