Dow Finishes Below 10,000 on Disappointing Jobs Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The major U.S. indices deteriorated in the final hour of trading Friday, ending more than 3% lower after a rough session spurred by weaker-than-expected May job growth, which dampened recovery hopes.

Although the unemployment rate declined to a lower-than-expected 9.7%, temporary Census hiring accounted for the bulk of job growth in May, according to the Labor Department.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the 10,000 level, losing 323 points, or 3.2%, to close at 9,932. On the week, the Dow lost 2%. The S&P 500 gave up 38 points, or 3.4%, to finished the session at 1065, which was 2.3% lower than a week ago. The Nasdaq shed 1.7% week-over-week, and fell 84 points, or 3.6% lower, to close at 2219.

"When you strip out temporary Census hiring and look at private sector growth, the jobs report was clearly a disappointment and an indication of the tenuous recovery that we're in the midst of," said Jim Baird, chief investment strategist for Plante Moran Financial Advisors.

"The other side of this story is that as the need for Census workers begins to decline, this temporary support that we've been getting to the jobs number could reverse unless private sector hiring picks up significantly," he added.

Overseas on Friday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.03%, and Japan's Nikkei declined 0.1%. The FTSE in London lost 1.6%, and the DAX in Frankfurt shed 1.9%.

Naoto Kan was named Japan's new prime minister. Kan served as finance minister under the former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who resigned over a broken campaign promise to move a U.S. marine base.

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