US stocks hit by disappointing jobs report A worse-than-expected private sector jobs report sent Wall Street lower as trading commenced on Wednesday, while mixed earnings reports failed to buoy US equities. ADP, the payroll processor, said the US private sector added just 119,000 jobs in April, well below consensus forecasts of 183,000 for the month. Ahead of Friday's much-watched non-farm payroll report, the report continued to fuel speculation among investors that the labour market recovery had stalled. Overall, the S&P 500 declined 0.6 per cent to 1,397.85 in early morning activity. Tuesday's best performing sector groups on the benchmark US index, energy and financials, were the biggest fallers on Wednesday. The S&P 500 energy and financial index each moved more than 1 per cent lower. Chesapeake Energy , the US natural gas producer, dropped 11 per cent to $17.42 as chief executive Aubrey McClendon was reported as saying he was "deeply sorry" for distractions that had put the company's business decisions in the spotlight over the last month. Chesapeake reported underlying post-tax profits fell 82 per cent in the first quarter to $94m. On Tuesday, the company said Mr McClendon would step down as chairman and terminate a scheme that allowed him to personally invest in up to 2.5 per cent of each of Cheseapeake's wells. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent at 13,223.32 and the Nasdaq Composite Index moved 0.3 per cent lower to 3,042.00. Some of the country's largest companies, including Bank of America and Alcoa , also fell. Shares in BofA were trading 1.3 per cent lower at $8.19 and Alcoa was down 1.4 per cent at $9.83. Declines in the tech sector were limited as Apple shares gained 0.7 per cent to $586.35. Shares in IntercontinentalExchange , the US commodity futures market maker, lost 4 per cent to $125.86 despite reporting a 15 per cent jump in net profits for its first quarter. Investors were worried by a separate release from the company that said average daily commissions on over-the-counter energy contracts had fallen off pace in April. TripAdvisor , the online travel service, was the biggest riser on the main US market, with shares jumping 17.6 per cent to $42.96. The company reported better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter, beating analysts" forecasts that had predicted higher marketing costs would erode net income. Shares in MasterCard , the global payments group, fell 2.5 per cent to $444.69 as it said profits rose 21 per cent to $682m, or $5.36 a share, in the first quarter.