* European debt worries slam global stocks
* Debt woes overwhelm better U.S. jobs data
* Sterling hits 1-year low vs dollar before rebounding
(Updates to U.S. markets, changes byline, dateline, previous
LONDON)
By Chris Reese
NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) - Stocks mostly fell in volatile
trade around the world on Friday on persistent fears that the
debt crisis in Greece could spread through the euro zone, while
the dollar rose against the yen after strong U.S. jobs data.
The better-than-expected jobs figures, showing the U.S.
economy added 290,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in April, gave only
minimal support to risky assets. U.S. stocks were trading lower
and oil prices shed more than 2 percent.
Sterling hit a one-year low beneath $1.45 after elections
in Britain left no party with an outright parliamentary
majority, but it rebounded when Conservative Party leader David
Cameron said he would try to form a minority government.
Traders said speculation on Friday that the European
Central Bank may act to support other indebted euro zone
countries and European banks helped the euro move off a
14-month low against the dollar and eased some of the fears
that Greece's debt woes may ripple through the region.
Wall Street was trading lower, extending Thursday's losses
when the Dow at one point suffered its biggest ever intraday
point drop -- nearly 1,000 points. Concerns about the euro zone
debt woes persisted as investors feared further escalation in
the crisis would hit economic growth and market sentiment.
"The market was already under pressure because of the
growing recognition that the crisis in Greece has gone from
being a Greek problem to a regional problem and now it's
morphing into a global problem," Pacific Investment Management
Co (Pimco) Chief Executive and Co-chief Investment Officer
Mohamed El-Erian told Reuters Insider.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> on Friday dropped
29.09 points, or 0.28 percent, to 10,491.23. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 4.17 points, or 0.37 percent, to
1,123.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> lost 19.03 points,
or 0.82 percent, to 2,300.61.
"It certainly didn't disappoint on the number of new jobs
created but I guess the question now is: is the overhang from
the stock market going to influence it more than the bond
performance given the payroll data," Bill Schultz, chief
investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates at Bethlehem
in Pennsylvania, said of the U.S. payrolls report.
"It's amazing that you could say the jobs report may not be
the big mover on a Friday of a jobs report number. I think
we're watching overseas and what's going on in the equities
market," he added.
European shares ended at a 6-month closing low, suffering
their worst weekly fall since November 2008.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares closed down 3.9 percent at 967.42 after touching an
8-month intraday low, and ended the week down 8.9 percent.
Banking stocks' earlier gains evaporated and became the
worst performers. BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Barclays <BARC.L> and
Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> fell 5.5 to 7.8 percent. The STOXX
Europe 600 banking index <.SX7P> is down 16 percent so far this
year.
The euro was last up 0.7 percent at $1.2720 <EUR=> after
falling to $1.2520 on Thursday, its lowest since March 2009. It
rose 1.7 percent to 116.53 <EURJPY=> after dipping below 111
yen Thursday, its lowest level since 2001.
Sterling rose 0.1 percent to $1.4772 <GBP=D4>, off a
one-year low of $1.4475 touched after the election results,
while the dollar rose 1.5 percent to 91.88 yen <JPY= but was
off a session peak above 93 yen.
U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on Friday, taking back some
of the sharp gains made on Thursday, with the 10-year Treasury
note <US10YT=RR> trading 8/32 lower in price and its yield
rising to 3.42 percent.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June crude <CLM0> was
down $1.80, or 2.33 percent, at $75.31 a barrel. U.S. oil has
lost over $10 in the past week on growing concern the European
debt crisis would hit global economic growth.
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
