Stocks took their worst pre-Fourth of July dive in history Thursday as the market quailed in the face of worse-than-expected job numbers.
Recession-weary employers in the U.S. slashed 467,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported, far worse than the 363,000 that economists expected and a grim signal that the path to recovery will be bumpy. The jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent in May.
The stock market rallied furiously this spring off of 12-year lows beginning in early March on hopes for a recovery, but the upward momentum stalled in mid-June as doubts began to emerge about whether the economy had really found a bottom. The June jobs report was the latest blow to the market’s confidence.
Major stock indexes fell more than 2.6 percent after the government said the U.S. unemployment rate hit a 26-year high. The Dow Jones industrials closed at their lowest level in six weeks. |