Before the Bell: Sluggish U.S. jobs data hurts global markets

Asian bourses are mostly down on Monday due to Chinese inflation and weak U.S. economic data from last week that shows a slowdown in U.S. jobs growth. European markets remain closed on Monday due to the Easter holiday.

On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said the American economy added only 120,000 jobs in March; fewer than the 200,000 that was anticipated. That's raising questions about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. Meanwhile, China's annual inflation rate jumped in March to 3.6 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1.5 per cent, Shanghai's Composite Index lost 0.9 per cent, and the Sensex also dropped 1.5 per cent. Markets in Hong Kong and Australia were closed for the Easter holiday weekend.

On Wall Street, U.S. futures are pointing to a lower open. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 114 points, or nearly one per cent, to 12864, while those for the S&P 500 Index fell 13.9 points, or one per cent, to 1376.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slid 28 points, or one per cent, to 2725.75. There is no major economic data to be released on Monday.

Here at home, Canada's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 75.55 points to 12,103.11 at close last Thursday. The TSX Venture Exchange fell 18.1 points to 1,481.04. The Canadian dollar is trading at 100.62¢ US.