(New throughout, updates prics, market activity and comments to
close of European markets)
* World shares poised for worst week in nearly three months
* Dollar heads for its best week since April
* U.S. job growth slows in August
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks fell
for a second straight day and was poised for its biggest weekly
decline in three months on Friday as a plunge in tech shares
resumed, while the dollar kept climbing following the U.S.
payrolls report.
U.S. job growth slowed in August as financial aid from the
government was depleted, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by
1.371 million jobs versus the climb of 1.734 million in the
prior month. Expectations were for the addition of 1.4 million
jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 8.4% from 10.2%. "The job market recovery has downshifted to a slower pace in
the last few months amid the surge in virus cases. There's still
uncertainty about the virus as we go into the fall," said
Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial Services
in Troy, Michigan.
"Investors are primarily considering that the surge in virus
cases slowed down the recovery and we still have virus concerns
coming into the fall which may result in the jobs recovery to be
slower than previously expected."
On Wall Street, stocks were battered for a second
consecutive session, as technology shares once again led a
sell-off. The tech sector .SPLRCT dropped 2.88% and was on
track for its biggest two-day percentage drop in almost six
months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 495.16 points,
or 1.75%, to 27,797.57, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 67.31 points, or
1.95%, to 3,387.75 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
295.44 points, or 2.58%, to 11,162.67.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX advanced in a
choppy session following the U.S. payrolls report. Stocks had
initially rebounded from their worst day in more than a month on
gains in bank shares before losing steam to trade flat before
the data. The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 1.13% to
close down 2.03% on the week. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the
globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 1.85%. The MSCI index was on track
for its worst week since late June.
The U.S. dollar continued to recover from two-year lows hit
earlier in the week and was poised for its best week since late
April while the euro continued its decline after breaching the
$1.20 mark on Tuesday. The dollar index =USD rose 0.233%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.37% to $1.1805.
U.S. Treasury yields jumped on the heels of the jobs report.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 21/32 in price
to yield 0.6902%, from 0.622% late on Thursday.
Oil prices continued to weaken on demand concerns and were
on track for their worst week since mid-June. U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 2.63% to $40.28 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $43.09, down 2.22% on the day.
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Spain bank index https://tmsnrt.rs/353RIQR
Jobs fell off a cliff https://tmsnrt.rs/2YXduSq
U.S. unemployment jpg https://reut.rs/2X245ch
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