U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday after the government reported payrolls in August dropped for the first time in four years rather than rising as had been expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled more than 270 points in the afternoon session.
At 3: 49 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 250.94 points at 13,112.41. The S&P 500 dropped 24.95 points at 1,453.60, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 50.38 points at 2,563.94.
Investors were surprised by the Labor Department's report that payrolls dropped by 4,000 in August, the first decline since August 2003. Economists had forecast payrolls would rise by 110, 000. However, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.6 percent as expected.
Source: Xinhua
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