* European debt worries slam global stocks
* Debt woes overwhelm better U.S. jobs data
* Sterling hits 1-year low vs dollar before rebounding
(Updates with U.S. closing market activity)
By Chris Reese
NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) - Stocks fell in volatile trade
around the world Friday on persistent fears 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 traded 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. It rebounded when Conservative Party leader David
Cameron said he would try to form a minority government.
Speculation the European Central Bank may support other
indebted euro zone countries and European banks helped the euro
off a 14-month low against the dollar and eased fears Greece's
debt woes may ripple through the region, traders said.
Wall Street fell however, extending losses from Thursday
when the Dow at one point suffered its biggest ever intraday
point drop -- nearly 1,000 points.
Although some of Thursday's precipitous fall was being
blamed on erroneous trades, 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 and Standard & Poor's 500
index posted their biggest weekly percentage declines since
March 2009. The Nasdaq Composite Index had the largest weekly
percentage fall since November 2008.
On Friday the Dow <> was down 113.59 points, or 1.08
percent, at 10,406.73. The S&P 500 <.SPX> was off 13.39 points,
or 1.19 percent, at 1,114.76. The Nasdaq <> was down 43.11
points, or 1.86 percent, at 2,276.53.
"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," said Bill Schultz, chief investment officer at
McQueen, Ball & Associates at Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.
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 they 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.
In late afternoon trading in New York, the euro last traded
0.4 percent higher at $1.2711 <EUR=> after falling to $1.2520
on Thursday, its lowest since March 2009.
The euro lost more than 4 percent versus the dollar in the
week and it is down about 11 percent this year.
Against the yen <EURJPY=>, the euro rose 1.2 percent to
115.96 after dipping below 111 yen Thursday -- its lowest level
since 2001.
Sterling was little changed at $1.4757 <GBP=D4>, off a
one-year low of $1.4475 touched after the election results,
while the dollar rose 0.8 percent to 91.25 yen <JPY=>, but it
remained off a session peak above 93 yen touched earlier.
U.S. Treasury debt prices fell Friday, taking back some of
the sharp gains made Thursday, with the 10-year Treasury note
<US10YT=RR> trading 9/32 lower in price and its yield rising to
3.43 percent.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures fell
<CLc1> for a fourth day in a row and settled down $2, or 2.6
percent, at $75.11 a barrel, after falling further to $74.51,
its lowest since Feb. 16.
Losses for the week totaled $11.04, or 12.8 percent, the
worst since prices fell almost 27 percent in the week to Dec.
19, 2008.
(Editing by Andrew Hay)
