Zero job growth sparks U.S. bonds, gold rally

A trader reacts at his desk in front of the DAX board at the Frankfurt stock exchange August 26, 2011.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paralysis in the U.S. jobs market reinforced fears of recession on Friday, driving investors out of stocks and into the safety of bonds, gold and the Swiss franc.

Stocks on Wall Street and other major exchanges closed down more than 2 percent after the U.S. Labor Department said employers added no net new jobs last month and July's total was revised lower.

The biggest reaction came in the U.S. Treasuries market, where the yield on the 30-year bond hit two-and-a-half-year lows on growing bets the dismal data will compel the Federal Reserve to take additional steps to boost the economy.

After a treacherous August of out-sized market volatility, the jobs report fed worries that September could bring more of the same, especially if economic data rekindles fear of another recession.

"There are a lot of confidence issues in the marketplace; the jobs number only made things worse," said Sal Arnuk, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. "My only question is 'Why the market isn't down more?'"

U.S. equities suffered their biggest drop in two weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed down 253.31 points, or 2.20 percent, at 11,240.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 30.45 points, or 2.53 percent, at 1,173.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 66.71 points, or 2.58 percent, at 2,480.33.

The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS fell 2.3 percent while European stocks .FTEU3 slid 2.5 percent. Emerging stocks .MSCIEF dropped by 1.6 percent.

President Barack Obama, in a speech set for September 8, will unveil a jobs program he hopes will provide "meaningful" tax relief and help the nation's long-term unemployed, a top aide told Reuters Insider.

Some think stocks will suffer from anemic jobs growth, at least for a while.

"What the market is looking for this time, realizing that unemployment is a barrier, and until the federal government wakes up and realizes what the restraints are and designs a program attacking restraints, it's not going to make much progress," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were up 35/32 in price, with the yield at 1.9961 percent, down more than 8 basis points on the day.

The 10-year yield is within striking distance of 1.976 percent, an intraday low set in mid-August, according to Tradeweb, and a level not seen in at least 60 years.

In Treasury Inflation Protected Securities trading, the yield on 10-year TIPS touched minus 0.02 percent, down 7 basis points from late Thursday. This signaled that traders have slashed their expectations for long-term U.S. economic growth and inflation.

There is now a growing expectation the Federal Open Market Committee will extend the maturity of its $1.65 trillion Treasuries holdings at its September 20-21 policy meeting.

The intended effect would be to push rates lower throughout the economy in an attempt to ignite consumer demand.

"This (jobs) report will certainly strengthen the case for the doves on the committee going into the next meeting later this month," said Millan Mulraine, senior U.S. macro strategist with TD Securities in New York.

In a research note, Goldman Sachs economists said they expect the Fed will announce plans to lengthen the average maturity of its portfolio, "with sales of relatively short-dated Treasuries and purchases of relatively long-dated Treasuries."

The 30-year Treasury bond soared more than three points in price. Yields dropped to 3.32 percent, the lowest since January 2009.

Bund futures rose 1.2 percent, hitting a record high on safe-haven demand.

In currency trading, the Swiss franc was up nearly 1 percent at 0.7898 to the dollar after hitting session highs at 0.7959.

The euro was near $1.419, having hit a three-week low of $1.418 earlier on confirmation that Greece will miss its 2011 deficit target of 7.6 percent and uncertainty over Italy's commitment to austerity measures.

Benchmark U.S. gold futures settled up 2.6 percent, just shy of $1,877 an ounce after peaking at $1,885 during the session.

Crude oil in New York finished down 2.8 percent at below $87 a barrel, after slipping to a session low $85.42, on worries a weaker U.S. economy would hurt energy demand. The United States is the world's No. 1 energy consumer.

(Reporting by Richard Leong, Chuck Mikolajczak, Angela Moon and Joshua Schneyer in New York and Barbara Lewis and Natsuko Waki in London; Writing by Barani Krishnan; Editing by Dan Grebler)