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US stocks lose on jobless report

06 April 2009 08:02 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Stocks fell Friday after a report showing the U.S. unemployment rate jumped in March to its highest level since 1983, AP reported.
The Labor Department’s report that unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent last month wasn’t good news for a stock market that has hung a 20 percent surge over the past four weeks on incremental signs that the economy could be righting itself.
Major market indicators were all off slightly in late morning trading. The Dow Jones industrials fell 52.88 to 7,925.20; the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5.02 to 829.36 and the Nasdaq slipped 5.44 to 1,597.19.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.71, or 1.1 percent, to 445.48.
Employers slashed a net total of 663,000 jobs last month â€” slightly worse than the 654,000 economists expected but not as bad as some traders had feared.
Bond prices fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 2.85 percent from 2.76 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill rose to 0.22 percent from 0.20 percent.
European and Asian markets were mixed following a powerful global stock rally the day before after world leaders pledged $1 trillion for financial rescue measures and promised stronger regulation of financial institutions.
Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed 0.3 percent higher, while Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.3 percent in afternoon trading. Germany’s DAX rose 0.1 percent and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.3 percent.