U.S. stocks were hit hard on Friday, as the U.S. Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report for March came in far less than economists' forecast.

Non-farm payroll employment edged up 88,000 in March, and the unemployment rate in March slightly improved to 7.6 percent from February's 7.7 percent, the Labor Department said.

The growth of the payroll data was less than half of economists' estimates of an increase of 193,000. And the mild drop in unemployment rate was mainly due to lower labor force participation rate, which decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 63.3 percent, according to the Labor Department.

Data released during the week suggested that the U.S. labor market recovery was taking a step back. The private sector employment growth moderated in March, Automatic Data Processing said Wednesday. And last week's jobless claims registered the sharpest weekly increase and the highest level of the year, according to the Labor Department.

Meanwhile, a bunch of Federal Reserve officials made speeches during the week, and some of them hinted at a possible tapering of the Fed's massive asset purchases if the jobs market and the U.S. economy continue to improve, which stoked market jitters.

But U.S. Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday signaled that the central bank's monetary easing policies will continue until the U.S. economy substantially improves.

Separately, the U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to 43.0 billion U.S. dollars in February from the revised 44.5 billion dollars in January, as exports increased more than imports, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 154.58, or 1.06 percent, to 14,451.53. The S&P 500 Index sank 20.03, or 1.28 percent, to 1,539.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 52.82, or 1.64 percent, to 3,172.16. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)