Stock Futures Sink as U.S. Job Losses Accelerate

Updated from 8:49 a.m. EST

Premarket futures were predicting a lower open for U.S. stocks Friday, after the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy lost more than half a million jobs in November, an even more dire result than had been anticipated.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 22 points at 826 and were 19 points below fair value. Nasdaq futures were down 28 at 1107 and were 20 points short of fair value.

During the previous outing, stocks sold off in the final hour of trading as uncertainty about a Congressional bailout for the automakers and worries about the Department of Labor's upcoming employment number had investors running for the exits.

The announcement of corporate layoffs from such large firms as AT&T (T Quote), DuPont (DD Quote) and Viacom (VIA Quote) further contributed to selling pressure.

Before the new session's trading commenced, the government reported that the unemployment rate reached 6.7% in November, up from 6.5% in October. Nonfarm payrolls showed a loss of 533,000 jobs, a much greater decline than the drop of 335,000 forecast by economists.

The average workweek declined slightly to 33.5 hours, and hourly earnings were up 0.4%, compared with a 0.3% increase in October.

"This is almost indescribably terrible," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics, in an email. He said that the total job losses in the past six months has now reached 1.55 million, losses that match the entire recession of 2001. Shepherdson expressed alarm at the acceleration in job losses.