国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks plunge over 3% on jobs data, European fears

NEW YORK, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street plunged on Friday, with all major indexes falling 3 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average finishing below 10,000, hit by disappointing jobs data and fresh European fears.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 323.31, or 3.15 percent, to 9,931.97. All Dow components fell, led by Caterpillar, whose share plummeted 5.48 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 37.95, or 3.44 percent, to 1,064.88 and the Nasdaq dropped 83.86, or 3.64 percent, to 2,219.17. Both indexes saw their second worst drop in the year of 2010.

Friday's sharp plunge erased all the gains in the previous two sessions, taking major averages down about 2 percent for the week. U.S. market opened sharply lower on Friday after key monthly jobs data fell short of market expectation.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, June 4, 2010. Wall Street tumbled on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 300 points, after the key monthly jobs data fell short of market expectation.

According to the Labor Department, nonfarm payrolls rose by 431, 000 in May, the largest gain since March 2000.However, the number was still lower than economists had expected and the bulk of the growth was in government jobs, boosted by temporary government hiring for the 2010 Census.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April, slightly better than the 9.8 percent unemployment rate economists had forecast. But economists believed it would rise again in the coming months.