US stocks down as financials retreat US stocks opened lower despite a US jobs report widely seen as solid. The S&P 500 was off 0.3 per cent to 1,276.68, its third consecutive opening loss, although the last two have been reversed, with the benchmark index ending Wednesday and Thursday in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent to 12,368.25, while the Nasdaq Composite index held firmer, off just 0.1 per cent to 2,666.26. The economy added 200,000 jobs in December, just a few thousand short of the best month in 2011, while the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 per cent, a three-year low. Reaction to the job reports was broadly positive, although RDQ Economics analysts said a seasonal accounting blip may have accounted for up to a fifth of the job creation figures. "Private payrolls were boosted by a 42,000 increase in courier jobs that appears to be the result of a bad seasonal adjustment factor (and, therefore, should be reversed in January)," RDQ told clients. Alcoa slipped 2.1 per cent to $9.16, after the aluminium producer said it was cutting global capacity by 12 per cent and idling smelters in response to falling aluminium prices. Several analysts are predicting a quarterly loss for the company when it kicks off the US earning season on Monday. Morgan Stanley slipped 2.5 per cent to $15.88 and Goldman Sachs was off 2 per cent to $92.67, as Wells Fargo analysts downgraded both banks and Ticonderoga analysts slashed their earnings estimates for the investment banking pair. Financials were generally weak with Bank of America off 2.1 per cent to $6.18 following its rapid rise this year, which has seen it climb 20 per cent in just five trading days going back to the end of 2011. The CME Group , the largest US exchange by market capitalisation, fell 2.6 per cent to $232.41 and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) was off 2.8 per cent to $113.79, as JPMorgan analysts downgraded both exchanges to neutral, arguing the companies" estimates appear optimistic and may have to be revised down. Discount retailer Family Dollar fell 4.1 per cent to $55.56 as quarterly earnings and same store sales slightly missed analyst expectations. Apollo Group , which operates for-profit universities, climbed 4.8 per cent to $56.31 for the best opening in the S&P 500, after reporting fiscal first-quarter profit and sales that topped analysts" estimates on strong student enrolments.