Stocks fell sharply Friday after a dismal job report came out. This report showed that the economy is still stuck in a slow-growth rut showing no signs of improving. This reinforced the fact that the European debt crisis is having an impact on global growth.
By Burton Frierson
July 6, 2012
Yahoo! Finance
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell sharply on Friday after dismal jobs data reinforced the view that the economy is stuck in a slow-growth rut.
News that the world's largest economy created just 80,000 jobs in June - far fewer than needed to lower the 8.2 percent unemployment rate - added to evidence that Europe's debt crisis is weighing on global growth.
The report followed other data this week that U.S. manufacturing shrank in June and service sector growth slowed to its lowest level since January 2010, which spurred speculation the Federal Reserve may take more action to stimulate the economy.
Though Fed action might cheer some investors, many others are starting to doubt the ability of central banks to lift the economic gloom. Moreover, Friday's jobs number might not be weak enough to prompt action by the Fed.
"The market is really focused on economic numbers that were less than desirable and it has just been off all day," said Stephen Carl, head equity trader at The Williams Capital Group LP in New York.
"I don't think they (the Fed) want to quite do things right yet, but they certainly potentially can breathe life back into things. But you always know that it's not necessarily always the answer."
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) dropped 160.04 points, or 1.24 percent, to 12,736.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^GSPC) dropped 15.53 points, or 1.14 percent, to 1,352.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) dropped 47.36 points, or 1.59 percent, to 2,928.76.
The S&P 500 was on track for a 0.96 percent loss for the week, which would be the largest weekly loss in just over a month.
U.S. listed shares in Deutsche Bank (DB) were down 5.5 percent at $33.48.
German markets regulator BaFin is conducting a special probe of Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) as part of a wider investigation into possible manipulation of the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (Libor), Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Spanish government bonds rose to levels seen as unsustainable a day after the European Central Bank cut rates to a record low, and China and Britain also loosened monetary policy.
Shares of Informatica Corp (INFA) plunged as much as 35 percent after the data-integration software maker forecast a weak second quarter hurt by delayed contracts.
Informatica was later trading 29.5 percent lower at $30.56.
Networking shares took a hit after gear maker Acme Packet Inc (APKT) forecast second-quarter results below expectations on continued weakness in the North American telecom service provider market.
The Arca Networking index (.NWX) was down 3.6 percent, while Acme Packet tumbled 14.4 percent to $15.75.
Skyrocketing sales of the Galaxy smartphone drove a record quarterly profit of $5.9 billion at Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>. This is likely to stretch the firm's lead over rivals Apple (AAPL) and Nokia (HEX:NOK1V). Apple shares were off 1.14 percent at $602.94.
To see original article CLICK HERE
