Stocks dip amid shutdown, jobs report

Following a weak U.S. Labor Department hiring report and amid fears of a prolonged federal government shutdown, investor pessimism on Wednesday was high. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 150 points in the first hour of trading before recovering in the late morning on news that President Barack Obama had invited Congressional leaders to the White House to try to resolve the shutdown, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. companies added 166,000 jobs in September, which was below a 180,000-job forecast by economist FactSet, according to the report.

Roughly 800,000 federal employees did not report to work on Wednesday because of the government shutdown. The Dow Jones was down 80 points shortly before noon.

Read more at the Associated Press.