NEW YORK — Disappointing jobs data sent U.S. stocks lower Friday, capping the final session of a bruising week that sent major market measures to their lowest levels this year.
While Friday’s trading was light ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend, investor fears of a slowing economic recovery deepened following the first drop in monthly nonfarm payrolls this year and the biggest decline in factory orders in 14 months.
The day’s stock declines added to other losses sustained last week as the second quarter ended with a thud and the third started on shaky ground, with the Dow posting its biggest weekly drop since the week of the May 6 “flash crash.” In negative territory for the seventh straight session, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 46.05 points, or 0.5 percent, to 9,686.48, a drop of nearly 5 percent for the week and its longest losing streak since the eight-day period that ended Oct. 10, 2008.
It was the worst pre-July Fourth week for the Dow in percentage terms since 1896.
Leading the measure’s declines, General Electric slid 1.7 percent.
Industrial components were weighed down by the drop in factory orders.
Caterpillar fell 1.3 percent, 3M slipped 1.1 percent, and Boeing declined 0.5 percent.
Walt Disney was also weak, down 0.3 percent, after the entertainment giant said it bought the maker of the popular Tap Tap Revenge game for Apple mobile devices such as the iPhone.
The Nasdaq composite dropped 9.57 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,091.79. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index shed 4.79, or 0.5 percent, to 1,022.58, a slide of more than 5 percent last week.
The June employment report showed that while the jobless rate edged down to 9.5 percent in June from 9.7 percent the previous month, nonfarm payrolls fell by 125,000, with only 83,000 private-sector jobs added.
