NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks opened sharply lower on Wall Street after U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in nine months, falling short of economists' forecasts.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 144 points, or 1 percent, to 14,461 as of 9:39 a.m. EDT Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 18 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,543.
U.S. employers added 88,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said Friday. That's half the pace of the previous six months, when the economy added an average of 196,000 jobs a month. The drop raises concerns that the economy could slow after showing signs of strengthening over the winter.
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