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Economic woes go global

May's jobs reports has worried investors worldwide about their short-term prospects. But there are more acute fears of a global slowdown, caused by what’s going on in Europe and emerging markets.

Jeremy Hobson: Stocks are down as investors react to the Labor Department’s May jobs report which came out on Friday. It said only 69,000 jobs were created in the U.S. last month.

But the gloomy market sentiment isn’t just about jobs, as Marketplace’s David Gura reports.


David Gura: We get jobs reports every month, every week, and a bad one can worry investors in the short-term. But there are more acute fears of a global slowdown, caused by what’s going on in Europe, among other things.

Bruce McCain is the chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.

Bruce McCain: It looks worse than it probably is from the longer-term standpoint, but it is still that sluggish, anemic growth cycle that we’ve been battling over the course of this entire recovery.

Economists say companies in the U.S. have actually been performing pretty well. But growing concern could undo all that success.

Paul Ashworth is with Capital Economics, and he says he’s worried that weakened confidence could cause a chain reaction.

Paul Ashworth: That is going to affect sales, it is going to affect revenues, and it is going to affect profitability.

And on top of that, there are signs of trouble in the so-called emerging markets.

In Washington, I’m David Gura, for Marketplace.

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