Stocks fall as Wall Street heads for a weekly decline

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are edging lower in afternoon trading today as the market heads for its first weekly decline in four weeks.

Nine of the 11 sectors of the Standard & Poor's 500 were lower, led by basic materials companies. Oil reversed a recent upward trend and fell below $50 a barrel. A government report showing steady hiring last month fell below forecasts, but not enough to take an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve later this year off the table.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,213 as of 1:27 p.m. Eastern time. The S&P 500 fell 9 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,151. The Nasdaq composite fell 27 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,278.

U.S. employers added 156,000 jobs last month, a decent gain but slightly below market expectations. Jobs growth has averaged 178,000 a month so far this year, down from last year's pace of 229,000. The figures may keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise the short-term interest rate it controls by December.

"September's number is still strong and adds to this week's ... positive U.S. data," said Paul Sirani, chief market analyst at Xtrade. "The world's largest economy looks to be sailing full steam ahead to a rate hike before the end of the year."