U.S. markets falter Friday on jobs report
May 4, 2012 at 5:59 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – A disappointing report Friday from the Labor Department sent stocks lower on the open Friday.
Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 88 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 11 points and the NASDAQ sank 35 points.
The jobs report showed a net gain of 115,000 jobs in April, much less than the expected 160,000. However, upward revisions to the February and March job figures helped the unemployment rate inch down from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent.
Investors didn’t like the news and stocks were sent sharply lower.
Friday’s market drop followed Thursday’s decline on a weaker-than-expected reading on the U.S. service sector.
In corporate news, LinkedIn’s shares jumped 8 percent Friday following a stellar earnings release Thursday after the close. But shares of insurer AIG lost nearly 6 percent despite earnings that came in ahead of expectations,
In world markets, European exchanges were lower in midday trading and Asia ended the day and the week mixed.
In currencies and commodities, the dollar advanced against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil slipped $2.09 to $100.45 a barrel and gold gave back $4.40 to $1,630.40 a troy ounce.
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