国际英语新闻：Wall Street retreats as concerns on European debt crisis spread

NEW YORK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks continued to fall on Friday with the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 turning negative for the year as concerns on European debt crisis spread.

Stock markets around the world plunged Friday after the Dow Jones average plummeted almost 1,000 points before recovering to close down about 348 points on Thursday.

Investors preferred to stay on the sidelines after the uNPRecedented plunge, even after payrolls data came in better than expected, as uncertainties over European debt problems were still haunting in the market.

An electronic ticker shows the stocks index in the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, May 7, 2010. U.S. stocks continued to fall on Friday with the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 turning negative for the year as concerns on European debt crisis spread.

According to the Labor Department, non-farm payrolls expanded by 290,000 in April, the most in four years as more confident employers stepped up hiring.

The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in March to 9.9 percent, mainly because 805,000 jobseekers resumed their searches for work as the economy showed more signs of recovery.

The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer borrowing rose by 1.95 billion U.S. dollars in March, better than the 3.85 billion dollars drop that economists had expected.

It could be a sign that American households are feeling more confident about boosting spending, a key development needed to support a sustained economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 140.72, or 1.34 percent, to 10,379.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 17.29, or 1.53 percent, to 1,110.86 and the Nasdaq was down 54.00, or 2. 33 percent, to 2,265.64.