US Stock Futures Plunge On Dismal May Jobs Report

U.S. stock futures plunged Friday after a surprisingly weak nonfarm payrolls report raised fears that the nation's nascent recovery may be losing steam and raising the possibility that the Federal Reserve may opt for economic stimulus measures.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had already fallen sharply in the runup to the report, dropped 191 points, or 1.6 percent, to 12,191 moments after the government said a paltry 69,000 jobs were created in May -- a surprisingly dismal number that was less than half of what most economists were expecting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to a record low 1.47 percent as investors fled to the safety of government debt.

The Standard & Poor 500 futures fell 2 percent and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down nearly 2 percent.