Stocks were lower in Europe and on Wall Street on Friday, slipping as the political uncertainty in Greece continued and a monthly jobs report in the United States showed mediocre growth.
Prime Minister George A. Papandreou of Greece faced a confidence vote after calling off a referendum on Greece’s new rescue deal with its international creditors. The euro zone debt crisis has unsettled global financial markets for more than a year.
Also Friday, the Department of Labor reported that employers in the United States added 80,000 jobs in October, slightly below economists’ forecasts, compared with 158,000 jobs in September.
European stocks were lower even ahead of the release of the data in the United States. In late trading the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, was down 2.4 percent. That decline came after a strong close on Thursday, when it was up 2.5 percent.
The German DAX was down 2.8 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris was down 2 percent. The FTSE 100 index in London was 0.8 percent lower.
On Wall Street, the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index was down 1.5 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average was 1.3 percent lower, as was the Nasdaq composite index.
If the declines are sustained through the end of the trading session, the markets will be approaching a cumulative five-day loss of at least 2 percent.
The United States benchmark 10-year bond yield was 2.044 percent, compared with 2.074 percent on Thursday.
Financial stocks were down 1.79 percent in the first hour of trading in the United States, the worst performing sector on the broader market.
Following the bankruptcy filing this week of MF Global in the United States, “investors are watching their backs for other troubled financials,” said Guy LeBas, the chief fixed income strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott.
Also this week, borrowing costs in Europe for the most troubled economies have been pushing up again to worrying levels.
Italian bonds, for example, have hit yield levels that mark the most expensive 10-year money the country has borrowed since joining the euro, making it even more difficult for struggling European countries to reduce their debt load.
On Friday, the yield on 10-year bonds in Italy climbed again to 6.373 percent, up from 6.181 percent.
Mr. LeBas said that it could be a combination of factors causing bond prices to decline, including the “dragging on” of the uncertainty in Greece and the inability of the Group of 20 leaders to agree on how to deploy funds for the European bailout.
“Looking ahead, while Greece is front and center now, the core problem for the euro zone is how to mitigate contagion to Italy,” said currency strategists from Brown Brothers Harriman in a research note.
The euro was $1.3740 on Friday, down from $1.3823 on Thursday.
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