Dow Jones (DJIA) drops 324 points on horrible job numbers, falls under 10,000

urkelAfter an absolutely horrible May 2010 jobs report, in which 95.5% of all jobs added in May were from temporary Census workers, the Dow Jones (DJIA) took a big dump falling 324, finishing at 9931.22. According to Fox Business, the Nasdaq Composite slid 83.86 points, or 3.64%, to 2219.17. The Standard & Poor’s 500 sank 37.95 points, or 3.44%.

“This economy is going nowhere. The growth we’ve got is an illusion and based on temporary workers,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading. “It’s just a disaster.”

In a particularly bearish sign, the selloff accelerated throughout the day and stocks concluded just off session lows, signaling traders didn’t want to be holding stocks heading into what could be another tumultuous weekend on the geopolitical front. Underscoring the jitters on Wall Street, the VIX, or the markets’ so-called “fear gauge,” surged more than 20%.

“The jobs numbers were pretty anemic. Unfortunately, there is no threshold for disappointment in the near-term and that does not bode well for the market,” NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business.

All 30 blue-chip stocks ended down at least 1.5%, led by Caterpillar (CAT: 57.6625, -3.4575, -5.66%), American Express (AXP: 39.27, -1.27, -3.13%) and Boeing (BA: 61.1525, -3.1575, -4.91%). The index’s best performers were defensive in nature: Verizon (VZ: 27.185, -0.455, -1.65%) and Procter & Gamble (PG: 60.97, -0.84, -1.36%).

The Nadaq Composite declined by slightly more than the broader markets as stocks like Electronic Arts (ERTS: 15.81, -0.94, -5.61%) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT: 22.97, -1.93, -7.75%) suffered heavy losses.

At first glance, Friday’s jobs report was good news. After losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a year earlier, the U.S. created 431,000 jobs in May — its best month of job growth since March 2000. The unemployment rate even fell from 9.9% to 9.7%. However, the markets were spooked by the report because 411,000 of the jobs created were Census jobs that will be going away, meaning the U.S. created a measly 41,000 private-sector jobs. Also, economists had called for much more robust overall growth of 513,000 jobs.

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June 4, 2010 · Filed Under economy


Comments

  • http://alipac.us VivalaMigra

    I’m betting that most of the remaining 41K jobs were given to illegal aliens…just the way Barry Hussein wants it!