US stocks sink on bad May jobs data

NEW YORK—US stocks dropped sharply Friday after a dismal report on the country’s jobs situation in May.

In closing trades the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 97.29 points (0.79 percent) at 12,151.26.

The broader S&P 500 index lost 12.78 points (0.97 percent) to 1,300.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gave up 40.53 points (1.46 percent) to 2,732.78.

The Labor Department reported that the economy added a paltry 54,000 jobs in May, one-quarter of the February-April pace, intensifying the challenge to the Obama administration to get the economy growing.

“While the private sector has added more than 2.1 million jobs over the past 15 months, the unemployment rate is unacceptably high and faster growth is needed to replace the jobs lost in the downturn,” White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said in a statement.

The news sent all the Dow blue chip components tumbling but one, Wal-Mart, which added 0.2 percent.

Alcoa, DuPont and Walt Disney led the losers, with each firm’s stock down 1.7 percent.

Goldman Sachs gained 0.7 percent as investors shrugged off Thursday’s report that it had been subpoenaed in a New York investigation into its actions during the US financial implosion of 2007-2009.

Bond yields tumbled on the new signs of economic weakness. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.99 percent from 3.03 percent late Thursday, while the 30-year bond dropped to 4.23 percent from 4.25 percent.