Dow closes down 124 after weak June jobs report
ASSOCIATED PRESS July 6, 2012 8:16AM
FILE- In this Tuesday, July 3, 2012, file photo. traders work in a booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street was poised for a slightly lower opening, Friday July 6, 2012 though how U.S. markets open will obviously depend on the payrolls figures, released an hour before the bell. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Updated: July 6, 2012 3:30PM
NEW YORK — Stocks are closing sharply lower on Wall Street after the U.S. government reported that only 80,000 jobs were created in June, the third straight month of weak hiring.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 124 points to 12,772 Friday. The loss wiped out the Dow’s gain for the week.
The unwillingness of U.S. employers to add jobs quickly shows that the economy is still struggling three years after the recession officially ended.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 slid 13 points to 1,355 and the Nasdaq composite fell 39 points to 2,937.
Falling stocks outpaced rising ones by over two to one on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was very thin at 2.6 billion shares.
