GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, commodities slide after payrolls

by Simon Falush LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks and commodities retreated on Friday while the dollar gained and gold hit a record high after U.S. unemployment losses came in much higher than forecast, a blow to optimism on the economic outlook. U.S. employers cut a more-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October and the jobless rate soared to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983. This snuffed out tentative optimism that the global economy may see a swift and sustained recovery, clouding the demand outlook and hitting equity and commodity prices. The dollar, which tends to gain as risk aversion increases as investors repatriate funds, retreated. It gained 0.4 percent against the euro to around $1.4821 but retreated 0.3 percent to 134.60 yen. "Should be good for the dollar on risk aversion trade. The Fed will stay on hold even longer with less likelihood of giving a concrete answer to when and how to withdraw quantitative easing. The revision is good but the real shocker is the unemployment rate." Spot gold, another beneficiary of risk aversion hit a record high of $1097.50, before retreating slightly. The MSCI world equity index was down 0.1 percent, retreating from earlier gains. European stocks fell sharply with the FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.9 percent. U.S. stock futures were sharply lower with S&P 500 index futures down 0.8 percent. The December Bund future marked a session high of 121.35 after the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls data. By 1351 GMT, the contract was up 33 ticks on the day at 121.34 compared with 120.94 before the figures were published. The two-year Schatz yield was down 4.2 basis points on the day at 1.277 percent versus 1.313 percent earlier. Crude fell below $78 per barrel while copper prices also fell. A meeting of the Group of 20 policymakers due to start later on Friday in Scotland will also be closely watched. The G20 will agree this weekend it is too early to pull the plug on emergency support for the global economy and launch a new system of checks to help rebalance world growth and prevent future crises. Keywords: MARKETS GLOBAL ([e-mail]. [phone]) Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]; Editing by Victoria Main) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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