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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The weaker-than-expected jobs report dominated investors' attention Friday, pushing all three major stock indexes down more than 1%.
The Labor Department's jobs report, which showed that the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, came in below expectations and points to signs of a deceleration in employment growth -- a scary prospect for the broader U.S. economy.
"People are growing more and more concerned," said Douglas DePietro, head of trading at Evercore Partners. "Everyone's asking 'how can we have a recovery without any jobs."
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dropped 154 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 15 points, or 1.1%. The Nasdaq (COMP) shed 42 points, or 1.4%
The technology sector added to investors' concerns after two companies, Seagate Technology (STX) and Informatica (INFA), reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Shares of Informatica, which enterprise software for corporations, dropped nearly 30%.
Other key technology companies traded off on fears that slowing global growth could weigh down the entire sector. Shares of other enterprise data companies Teradata (TDC), Citrix (CTXS), and Autodesk (ADSK) also inked steep losses.
After a string of weak monthly jobs numbers and an unemployment rate unchanged at 8.2%, Friday's report will likely fuel arguments for increased intervention by the Federal Reserve.
Still, investors are wary that the jobs numbers may not have been weak enough to spur the central bank into action when its governors meet at the end of July.
Meanwhile, governments around the world have increasingly become dependent upon action by their central banks as the global fiscal crisis continues.
International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde said debt problems have spilled over borders. In her speech on Friday in Japan, Lagarde said the IMF will revise down its next global forecast, due in 10 days.
"Over the past few months, the outlook has, regrettably, become more worrisome," she said.
U.S. stocks pared earlier losses and ended mixed Thursday, as investors grew hopeful that interest rate cuts from China and Europe, along with tepid U.S. economic data, could bring more meaningful central bank action.
World markets: European stocks were slightly lower in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) slid 0.4%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany fell 1% and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) shed 0.8%.
Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) rose 1%, while the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong ended barely in the red and Japan's Nikkei (N225) fell about 0.7%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar was flat against the euro and Japanese yen, but fell against the British pound.
Oil for August delivery fell $2.44 to $84.77 a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery dropped $22.40 to $1,587.60 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.56% from 1.60% late Thursday.
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