Wall Street falls on weak jobs report

Stocks on Wall Street fell sharply in an abbreviated trading week marred by weak jobs growth and poor economic signals.

Friday's monthly employment report was worse than expectations for the third month.

Non-farm payrolls improved by 80,000 in June from an upwardly revised reading of 77,000 in May, falling short of the 100,000 jobs that economists had expected.

The unemployment rate was steady at 8.2%, in line with expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 124.20 points, or 1.0%, to 12,772.47. The S&P 500 index gave up 1.0%, to 1354.68, while the Nasdaq Composite eased 1.5%, to 2937.33.

Stocks sensitive to global growth led the fall, with Caterpillar down 2.5% and Alcoa down 2.2% among the Dow's worst performing components. The materials and industrial sectors were also weak.

The technology sector slipped the most out of the S&P 500's 10 sectors. Eight of the index's top decliners were software companies and those tied to cloud-computing technology.

Other markets: Europe, Asia down
In Europe, Spanish stocks groaned under the strain of bond yields that almost hit 7%. The IBEX 35 tumbled 3.1% to 6738.90, after dropping 3% on Thursday. It has plunged 21% so far this year.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1% to 254.41, its third straight loss, although it notched a gain of 1.3% for the week.

The French CAC 40 index dropped 1.9% to 3168.79, the German DAX 30 index fell 1.9% to 6410.11 and the FTSE 100 index fell 0.5% to 5662.63.

Most Asian markets closed down but mainland Chinese stocks climbed after a surprise interest rate cut. It was the People's Bank of China second cut in less than a month.

The Shanghai Composite hit a six-month low at one point before finishing the day up 1% at 2223.58.

Japan's Nikkei Average was down 0.7% at 9020.75 and Australia's S&P ASX/200 was 0.3% lower at 4157.80 but 1.5% higher for the week.

Korea's Kospi edged 0.9% lower to 1858.20 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index up 1.9% over the week.

Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures extended losses after the jobs report, settling down 3.2% at $US84.45 a barrel.

Gold futures finished 1.9% lower at $US1578.40 an ounce.

Currencies: Euro falls to two-year low.
The US dollar moved higher against the euro, which sank to $US1.2267, its lowest level since July 2010.

The euro was down 1% from $US1.2392 late on Thursday.

It also plummeted to a four-year low against the UK pound. The euro traded at £0.7929, compared with £0.7981.

The Australian dollar fell to $US1.0188 from $US1.0287, while the pound dipped to $USUS1.5525.