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New York - Wall Street stocks on Wednesday dropped sharply in early trade following disappointing US hiring figures for March.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 607.73, down 168.39 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.84% at 2 050.60 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.08% to 4 847.28.
US businesses increased nonfarm payrolls by 189 000 jobs in March, payrolls firm ADP said Wednesday. March was the first month in more than a year that fewer than 200 000 jobs were added.
The ADP report comes ahead of the US Department of Labour's key March jobs report on Friday.
Macerich dropped 5.1% after it rejected a second, sweetened hostile takeover bid from mall giant Simon Property. Simon, which announced it was ending its pursuit, rose 0.2%.
Agriculture giant Monsanto rose 2.0% as it projected 2015 earnings on the low end of its previously disclosed range, citing headwinds including the strong dollar and a decline in its corn-related business.
Leading airlines were lower following a downgrade of major airlines by Deutsche Bank. American Airlines lost 3.9%, Delta Air Lines fell 3.8% and United Continental dropped 3.4%.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.88% from 1.93% on Tuesday, while the 30-year declined to 2.49% from 2.54%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
