Wall street is poised to open lower today, threatening to break through April's lows, after a surprisingly weak employment report wiped out early guarded optimism.
The US unemployment rate surged to its highest level in almost four years in August as companies cut workers from their payrolls, the US government said in a startlingly bleak report.
The US jobless rate climbed to 4.9 per cent from 4.5 per cent in July, the Labor Department said.
"The numbers are much worse than expected - immediately the screen turned red from green," said Prudential Securities stock market analyst Mr Larry Wachtel.
"The market wants some sign we're coming out of an economic nuclear winter, but there's no sign of an improving economy. In fact, it seems to be getting worse".
Standard & Poor's 500 September stock futures slid 9.90 points to 1,1093, and Nasdaq 100 September futures dropped 13 to 1,344. Dow Jones industrial average futures for September sank 90 points to 9,730.
The Nasdaq spiralled down 53.37 points, or 3.03 per cent, to end at 1,705.64. The technology-rich index suffered its third-straight losing session. It also dropped in seven of the last eight trading sessions.
The blue-chip Dow Jones tumbled 192.43 points, or 1.92 per cent, to 9,840.84. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index sank 25.34 points, or 2.24 per cent, to 1,106.40.