Friday’s fall erases all of Dow’s gains for 2012

New Yprk City, N.Y., United States (4E) – U.S. equities plummeted Friday with the Dow reeling, ending the day down some 275 points, or 2 percent.

The tumble wiped put all of the index’s gains for 2012.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 and the NASDAQ both moved into correction territory, falling more than 10 percent from this year’s high.

The broad-based sell-off took all 30 Dow components lower. Some 97 percent of the S&P finished down.

Anxious investors raced to escape equities and flooded into the safety of U.S. government debt and safe haven gold after a disastrous May jobs report showed businesses only added a paltry 69,000 jobs in the month, greatly lower than the forecast of 150.000. The unemployment rate as a result ticket up to 8.2 percent

Gold rocketed up nearly $60 to $1,622 a troy ounce. Oil slipped 3.8 percent, or $3.30, to $83.23 a barrel as worries over a global slowdown pressured the fuel.

Persistent worries about the state of the eurozone and a slowing Chinese economy also continue to weigh on investors.

European stocks closed sharply lower Friday, while Asia ended the day mixed.

Investors were hoping to put away the tumultuous selling that plagued markets in May, but the selling carried over into the first trading day of June.

Markets in the summer can be volatile as traders take vacation and light volume can result in wide swings.

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