| U.S. stocks plunge over 3% on jobs data, European fears |
| Date: 2010/6/8 Click: 2174 |
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Wall Street plunged on Friday, with all major indexes falling 3 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average finishing below 10,000, hit by disappointing jobs data and fresh European fears.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 323.31, or 3.15 percent, to 9,931.97. All Dow components fell, led by Caterpillar, whose share plummeted 5.48 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 37.95, or 3.44 percent, to 1,064.88 and the Nasdaq dropped 83.86, or 3.64 percent, to 2,219.17. Both indexes saw their second worst drop in the year of 2010.
Friday's sharp plunge erased all the gains in the previous two sessions, taking major averages down about 2 percent for the week. U.S. market opened sharply lower on Friday after key monthly jobs data fell short of market expectation.
According to the Labor Department, nonfarm payrolls rose by 431, 000 in May, the largest gain since March 2000.However, the number was still lower than economists had expected and the bulk of the growth was in government jobs, boosted by temporary government hiring for the 2010 Census.
The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April, slightly better than the 9.8 percent unemployment rate economists had forecast. But economists believed it would rise again in the coming months.
Selloff in the stock market accelerated into the close of the session, along with the slide of the euro.
The euro broke below the 1.20-dollar level for the first time since 2006, after Hungary's warning heightens sovereign-debt fear, saying that the economy had been left in a "grave situation" and that talk of a default wasn't "an exaggeration."
A sliding euro indicates waning confidence on Europe's ability to contain the debt crisis in some countries, which unsettled stock investors. The euro has fallen more than 10 percent since April 26, the day the Dow hit its highest level of the year.
Risk aversion drove investor out of equities and commodities markets. Crude oil tumbled more than 4 percent and settled at the lowest level since May 26. |
