Stocks Slide as Factory Orders Decline
Stocks turned firmly lower Friday after a disappointing report on factory orders. The market had wobbled at the start as investors digested the June jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 70 points after bobbing in and out of positive territory this morning.
Verizon , American Express and Alcoa were among the early Dow leaders.
Walmart and Hewlett-Packard were among the early decliners.
Factory orders fell 1.4 percent May, nearly triple of what economists had expected.
The report is another blow to the recovery as early signs had indicated that manufacturing was leading this recovery even as the consumer remained sluggish.
Employers slashed 125,000 jobsfrom nonfarm payrolls last month, about 10,000 more than expected, while the unemployment rate, which is based on a household survey, actually slipped to 9.5 percent. It was the first decline in payrolls in six months.
Within that report, manufacturing hiring actually rose by 9,000, though construction hiring fell by 22,000. Private hiring overall rose 83,000. The biggest drag was loss of 225,000 temporary Census workers.
The dollar struggled against the euro, holding near five-week lows, after a big short squeeze in the European currency ahead of U.S. jobs data.
European stocks rose, led by miners, after Australia ended a damaging dispute with global miners by dumping its "super profits" tax for a lower resources rent tax.
On the M&A front, French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis is preparing an acquisition in the U.S. that may be worth $20 billion or more, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. A Sanofi-Aventis spokesman declined to comment.
And British power supply systems maker Chloridehas recommended a $1.5 billion takeover by U.S. conglomerate Emerson Electric , bringing to an end a long-running bid battle.
Lions Gate Entertainment said late on Thursday that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan, in a move to deter billionaire Carl Icahn's hostile attempt to buy the independent Hollywood studio.
Shares of Wilshire Bancorp fell sharply in extended trading on Thursday after the company forecast a second-quarter loss.