World Stocks Fall As US Jobless Rate Hits 10.2 Pct

CARLO PIOVANO

LONDON (AP) — European stocks fell and Wall Street was expected to drop on the open Friday after data showed the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October, more than expected, as 190,000 jobs were cut.

The rise above the psychologically-important 10 percent level was the first since 1983 and reminded investors that the world's largest economy, which last week was confirmed to have emerged from recession, will recover only slowly.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.9 percent at 5,081.51 while Germany's DAX dropped 1.1 percent to 5,419.13. The CAC-40 in France shed 0.9 percent to 3,676.10.

Although Asian indexes closed higher, riding positive momentum from Thursday and before the jobs data was released, U.S. markets were expected to slide. Dow Jones industrials futures were down 56 points at 9,898 and Standard & Poor's 500 futures were down 6.4 points at 1,056.80.

Both European markets and U.S. futures had been higher before the data, which disappointed expectations.

Economists had been forecasting job losses of about 175,000 in October and an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent. It is the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years.