US losses add to market woes after weak jobs data

US shares moved lower at opening, exacerbating falls in Europe, as yet more negative jobs data weighed on investors.

In a week which has seen fears about the health of the US economy mount, jobless claims on Thursday failed to bring relief, with the Labour Department revealing claims for jobless benefits stayed above 400,000 last week. Any figure above 400,000 indicates a lack of job creation within the world's largest economy, and investors reacted to the data by selling down shares. The S&P 500 dipped 0.15% to 1,313 just after opening at 2:30pm, exacerbating yesterday's decline of more than 2%. In the UK shares also remained in the doldrums having traded lower throughout the day, with the FTSE ...