World stocks dipped towards a 1-1/2 week low on Friday after the previous day's disappointing U.S. jobs report boosted expectations that the process of recovery in the world's biggest economy would be long and slow, Reuters reported. U.S. employers cut far more jobs than expected last month and the unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years. While analysts caution that jobs data is a lagging indicator and unemployment can still rise when the economy is turning around, it was enough to prompt investors to reduce their risk assets especially before a long weekend in the United States. Furthermore, signs of a recovery in the euro zone's dominant service sector took a backwards step in June with the final services purchasing manager index coming in at 44.7 in June, down from May's seven-month high of 44.8. This marks the thirteenth consecutive month the index has been below the 50.0 mark that divides growth from contraction. "Payrolls were a wake up call," said Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets, in Paris. "The data showed that the economic recovery remains fragile and more downbeat data is to be expected, particularly on the jobs front. Stocks are ripe for a consolidation period." MSCI world equity index was largely unchanged on the day, after hitting the 1-1/2 week low earlier. The FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.2 percent while emerging stocks was steady on the day. U.S. markets are closed for a holiday on Friday.
