Recovery signs not great: Dow drops for seventh day
03 Jul 2010
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday dropped for a seventh straight day, with a disappointing US jobs report for June adding to investors' concerns that the economic recovery is losing steam. This is the DJIA's longest losing streak since the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.
The Dow and other major indexes have posted big losses for a second straight week.
The Dow ended down 46 points Friday after labour department data showed private employers added only 83,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 112,000 analysts had forecast. Investors are focused on business hiring because that makes up the bulk of the country's work force. Also, overall jobs numbers have been distorted in recent months by the hiring of temporary census workers.
Businesses aren't hiring as quickly as most investors would like.
Pessimism has been growing since late April about the health of the economy. The Dow dropped 10 per cent for the second quarter, which ended Wednesday, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 11.9 per cent.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 46.05, or 0.5 per cent, to 9,686.48. The Dow hasn't fallen for seven straight days since an eight-day loss that ended 10 October 2008.