Stocks Sag Under Jobless Numbers

In commodities, the price of crude oil was down $1.83 at $106.06. Gold was adding $8 to $811.20.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were higher. The 10-year was up 13/32 to yield 3.57%, and the 30-year was up 21/32, yielding 4.22%. The dollar was gaining on the euro and pound, but softening vs. the yen.

"I'm not worried about inflation, although the average hourly earnings did tick a little higher than expectations," said Ablin. He pointed out that commodities have recently underperformed stocks, and said, "I think we're shifting more toward a disinflationary, deflationary outlook." Such an environment would leave the Federal Reserve room to lower interest rates, said Ablin.

Major foreign exchanges, including the FTSE in London, the Dax in Frankfurt, the Nikkei in Japan and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, were lower.