Economic data weighs down stocks

Serious doubts about the health of the job market and the pace of the economic recovery put markets on edge yesterday.

Stocks fell after payroll processor ADP said companies added 179,000 new jobs in April, far fewer than economists had expected. That raised worries about what the government's monthly jobs report for April will reveal when it's released Friday.

In a separate report, the Institute for Supply Management said its service-sector index rose at the slowest pace in eight months in April, as many companies express concerns about higher food and gas prices.

Even so, the broader markets are up between 6 percent and 10 percent for the year.

Stronger-than-expected earnings reports led to a market rally that started in mid-April. Now that earnings season is coming to an end, job reports are most likely to sway markets over the next two days. The Labor Department will release its weekly look at first-time applications for unemployment benefits this morning, followed by the closely watched monthly labor market report on Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 83.93 points, or 0.66 percent, to close at 12,723.58 Wednesday. The average of 30 large companies is still up 10 percent for the year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.30 points, or 0.69 percent, to 1,347.32. It remains up 7 percent for the year. The Nasdaq composite index fell 13.39, or 0.47 percent, to 2,828.23. It's up 6.6 percent this year.

Signs that the economic recovery is slowing also dragged down commodity prices. Silver fell for the third day straight, losing 7.5 percent to settle at $39.39 an ounce. Crude oil slipped $1.81 to settle at $109.24 a barrel.

And falling prices for oil and metals hurt the energy and materials companies whose fortunes depend on them. Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. lost 3.9 percent. Occidental Petroleum Corp. lost 2.5 percent.