Wall Street Slides on Jobs Report Stocks on Wall Street dropped by more than 1 percent at the start of trading on Monday as investors expressed their disappointment with Friday's report on the American labor market. The Labor Department said the United States economy created only 120,000 net jobs in March, about half the number that analysts had expected and about half what had been added in each of the previous two months. The stock market was closed for Good Friday when the figures were released. Just after the opening bell, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was off 1.1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average, a measure of 30 blue-chip stocks, fell 1 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index, which is heavy in technology shares, lost 1.3 percent. In the bond market, prices rose as traders flocked to what are considered safer investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was down 3 basis points to 2.028 percent. European markets were closed Monday. Earlier, Asian stocks, the first markets to trade since the unemployment report, retreated. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 1.5 percent. After a 12 percent gain in the first quarter of 2012 - their best first quarter in 14 years - broad stock market indexes have been tipping lower so far for the month of April. The rest of the week may not bring much relief. Major companies begin reporting their financial performance from the first quarter this week, and analysts were predicting little if any growth in earnings. In addition, statistics tracking the economic recovery have been leveling off, showing weaker manufacturing activity and stagnant personal income. Friday's labor report showed that the unemployment rate slipped to 8.2 percent in March, from 8.3 percent in February, but economists noted that was because a smaller portion of the population was looking for work.