Thud

Associated PressUS Stocks Fall on Employment Report By TIM PARADIS 03.07.08, 8:48 AM ET

NEW YORK -
U.S. stock futures fell Friday after the government's February employment report came in weaker than expected. The Labor Department's report that employers cut jobs by 63,000 last month - the most since March 2003 - unnerved investors worried about the health of the economy and who had been expecting a 25,000 gain in jobs. While the unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, the decline reflects people leaving the labor force.
Dow futures fell 137, or 1.14 percent, to 11,933. S&P 500 futures fell 9.90, or 0.76 percent, to 1,298.00. The Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 3.25, or 0.19 percent, to 1,711.00.
The highly anticipated report came minutes after the Federal Reserve announced it would take fresh steps to ease credit troubles, including boosting the amount of money it will auction to banks. The move stoked worries that the employment reading would be weaker than expected.
The Fed said it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been slated for $30 billion each and central bank officials said they plan to even bigger amounts for future auctions if need be. Also, the Fed said that it will, starting Friday, begin a series of repurchase transactions expected to reach $100 billion.
Bond prices jumped. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.51 percent from 3.59 percent late Thursday.
Light, sweet crude fell 43 cents to $105.04 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange after the jobs report. A slowing economy could dampen demand for oil.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 3.27 percent after Wall Street's decline. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.93 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.24 percent, and France's CAC-40 slid 1.74 percent.