US stocks sink after dismal May jobs report

New York - US stocks fell in opening trade Friday on after a dismal May jobs report wiped out chances of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.

The US economy added a paltry 38 000 jobs last month, the Labour Department said, the lowest number in nearly six years and one-quarter of what economists had forecast.

Coupled with significant downward revisions to job creation figures reported the previous two months, the report suggested the world's largest economy was rebounding from the first quarter slump much more weakly than thought.

A few minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% at 17 780.56.

The broad-market S&P 500 lost 0.3% at 2 098.57, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4% at 4 953.07.