US STOCKS-Wall St set to slide at open on jobs data
Reuters* U.S. data shows unemployment rate at 4-1/2 year in Aug
* Global growth concerns fuel global equity rout
* Nokia's warns on outlook, adds to negative tone
* Broader market threatening a retest of July low
(Rewrites first paragraph, updates prices)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks headed for a loweropen Friday after a government report showed the U.S. labormarket deteriorated further in August, pushing the unemploymentrate to its highest in more than 4-1/2 years.
The news of the unemployment rate climbing to 6.1 percentlast month from 5.7 percent in July painted a bleak picture forthe economy and the outlook for profit growth, and fueled asell-off in Europe.
Technology shares, including chip makers Qualcommand Texas Instruments, were set to be among the topdrags after Nokia, the world's biggest maker ofmobile phones, slashed its third-quarter market share outlook.
A broad slide on Wall Street will extend Thursday's routthat has put the broader market on the cusp of retesting itsJuly 15 low.
"We're running job losses that are typically seen in theearly stages of a economic recession. We're probably in onewith the unemployment rate going up that much over the lastyear, and especially in a single month," said David Resler,chief economist at Nomura Securities in New York.
S&P 500 futures fell 11.9 points and were below fairvalue, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into accountinterest rates, dividends and time to expiration on thecontract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 102points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 18.50 point.
The bleak news on the economic front diminished theappetite for riskier assets like stocks, causing investors torun for the relative safety of government debt. Benchmark10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest in 4-1/2months.
Merrill Lynchwill also be among the high-profiledrags after Goldman Sachs cut the investment bank to a "sell"and said it will likely incur additional write-downs for souredmortgage investments. Merrill shares slid 5.4 percent to $24.80before the bell. (Editing by Kenneth Barry)