Oil dropped on concerns that global supplies are still outpacing demand. US crude fell $1.29 to close at $44.63 a barrel in New York. “The knee-jerk reaction on the Fed lift-off is negative”, Orlando said. “It’s not a surprise that as it starts to move away from its extraordinary support that investors feel a bit nervous about what happens next”.

Traders also anxious that a report showing that the number of available jobs soared in July could help convince Federal Reserve policymakers to raise interest rates later this month. The Dow Jones industrial average bucked the trend, adding 22 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,356. “We will definitely have some more volatility, but that’s part of a normal market”. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.5 percent.

France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.8 percent at 21,733.47 and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 3,203.54. The dollar was little changed in thin, listless trading ahead of next week’s Fed meeting.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19 percent. The grocery store chain’s stock rose $1.89 to $37.29. The stock fell $2.39 to $13.91. Gold dropped $6 to settle at $1,103.30 an ounce, and silver sank 14 cents to $14.50 an ounce.

The devaluation spooked investors, who interpreted the move as an attempt to shore up an ailing economy. The United States, the world’s biggest economy, has released a string of robust employment data while officials in No. 2 economy China have been insisting its growth is on a steady path. In the past week, both Japan and the bloc of euro countries revised recent GDP growth figures, leading to a less pessimistic view of those economies.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 was up three points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,955 as of 2:35 p.m. Eastern time. The Labor Department said weekly applications benefits dropped 6,000 to 275,000. A reading on consumer confidence this month sank to its lowest level since September of previous year. If the hiring situation continues to improve it could potentially lead to higher wages and rising inflation. Those low rates have been a key factor sending stock prices higher over the past seven years.