US stocks open lower after bruising jobs data

Wall Street stocks fell in early trading Friday after the government reported the US lost 701,000 jobs in March as businesses shuttered due to the coronavirus outbreak.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 21,337.45, down 0.4 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,523.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also dipped 0.1 percent to 7,483.24.

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That was the worst job loss since March 2009 during the depths of the global financial crisis, and the biggest single-month jump in the jobless rate in more than 45 years, the report said.

But analysts noted that report -- based on surveys in the week of March 12 before the most draconian shutdowns -- underestimates the true employment devastation from the lockdowns.

In fact the Labor Department's own weekly data on workers who file for unemployment benefits for the first time showed 10 million people lost their jobs in the last two weeks of the month.

Petroleum-linked stocks enjoyed a rare rebound as oil prices gained on news that the Saudi-led OPEC was set to hold a video conference with non-cartel members, notably Russia, that could stop a price war that along with crushed demand because of the coronavirus has plunged the market into chaos.