NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks extended their recent losing streak on Tuesday, stung by worries about slowing US job growth, while the euro fell on nagging concerns about Europe's fiscal problems.
Signs of a cooling US recovery after Friday's release of disappointing data on jobs creation in March and the euro zone's festering debt crisis fueled a view of tepid global growth, stoking safety bids for gold as well as US and German government debt.
"The bad news on employment brought about more doubt about the global recovery and how vulnerable we are to the double-dip (recession)," said William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts.
Oil prices briefly fell below $122 a barrel in London after China, the world's second largest oil consumer, reported a decline in imports of crude oil in March, raising concerns about its oil demand.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P was on track to mark a fifth straight session of losses. During the current downdraft, it has lost 3 percent and hit its lowest level in a month. The index had touched a four-year high last Monday, and it is still up nearly 10 percent for the year to date. Other major US indexes have suffered similar pullbacks from recent peaks.
"The market is trying to figure out whether or not this selloff has run its course," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. "I think the near term focus is really a question of have we stabilized heading into the start of earnings season."
Dow component Alcoa Inc., the US aluminum giant that is considered a bellwether for the industrial sector, will unofficially kick-start the quarterly earnings season after the closing bell.
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 166.50 points, or 1.29 percent, at 12,763.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 19.38 points, or 1.40 percent, at 1,362.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 44.99 points, or 1.48 percent, at 3,002.09.
Apple had initially bucked the day's downward trend. Its shares hit a new high of $644, driving its market capitalization to briefly top $600 billion, before reversing course and trading down 0.43 percent at $633.48 in the early afternoon.
European shares hit a 10-week low on Tuesday on the first trading day after an extended four-day Easter weekend. Financials, miners, automakers and energy sectors bore the brunt of the sell-off, reacting to Friday's weak US jobs report and data released on Tuesday showing no growth in France's economy in the first quarter.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares finished down 2.48 percent at 1.026.15 points. The index has fallen more than 7 percent since hitting an eight-month high in mid-March and is up just 2.7 percent so far this year.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell for a sixth straight session, closing down 0.1 percent at 9,538.02.
The broad weakness in equities knocked the MSCI global stock index down 1.36 percent to its lowest level since early February.
In the currency market, the euro fell 0.2 percent versus the dollar to $1.3080, near a one-month low of $1.3033 set on Monday. Against the yen, the euro was down 1.1 percent at 105.71 yen after an earlier low of 105.57 yen -- its lowest level against the yen since Feb 22.
Both Spanish and Italian yields spreads over Bunds widened in early European trade, extending moves from last week when the US jobs numbers added to concerns about the global economic outlook.
Spanish bonds have also come under pressure recently as investors worried that Spain could become the next source of contagion in the euro zone due to its weak fiscal position.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes last traded up 15/32 in price with a yield of 1.995 percent, the lowest level in about four weeks.
German Bund futures were up 1.15 percentage points at 140.30, their highest level since March 7.
In oil trading, Brent crude was down $1.95 or 1.6 percent at $120.72 a barrel, while US oil fell $1.11 or 1.1 percent to $101.35 a barrel.
Spot gold prices clung their gains in choppy trading. They were last up 0.86 percent at $1,654.81 an ounce.