By Liz Moyer and Corrie Driebusch Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Friday's weak jobs report sent financial stocks tumbling in early trading, pushing the broader market lower and diminishing hopes that the rally in the sector earlier this year could be restarted after a dismal May. The subindex of financial stocks within the Standard & Poor's 1500 fell 2.77% while the KBW Bank Index of 24 large bank stocks fell 3.54%, a five month low. The S&P 500 index was down 1.89%. Bank of America shares fell 4.22%, to $7.04, while Morgan Stanley fell 4.13%, to $12.81. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell 3.2% to $92.64, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. fell 2.89%, to $32.19. Citigroup shares fell 3.58%, to $25.56. With an intraday low of $12.80, Morgan Stanley hit a low last seen about eight months ago. J.P. Morgan's early Friday skid to $32.05 was last hit late last December and Goldman's $92.35 was a nearly six-month low. Regional banks also took the brunt of the selloff. Shares of Huntington Bancshares Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, fell 6.19%, to $6.14; shares of Comerica Inc. in Dallas fell 3.29%, to $29.44; BB&T Corp. in Winston-Salem, N.C. fell 4.17%, to $28.95; and U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis fell 3.7%, to $29.96. Regional bank stocks are particularly sensitive to any hint of a slowdown in loan growth and merger activity. Bank stocks have been rallying this year, with the KBW bank stock index up 7.75% year-to-date despite Friday's losses, compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is now flat for the year. The outperformance of bank stocks so far this year "has hit an air pocket," said Gerard Cassidy, a bank stock analyst with RBC Capital Markets. "We're going to need to see a resurgence in the economy to drive bank stocks higher from here." The Labor Department issued a disappointing jobs report for the third straight month, with nonfarm payrolls growing 69,000 in May, the smallest gain in a year and below forecasts for 155,000. Job gains for March and April were also revised lower. The unemployment rate was 8.2%, up one-tenth of a percentage point, the first increase in nearly a year. Concerns about Europe also continued to weigh heavily on the financial sector. Shares of Deutsche Bank AG fell 6.67% in morning trading, to $33.58, while shares of Credit Suisse fell 1.52%, to $18.84, and shares of UBS AG fell 1.76%, to $11.18. European stocks were already down before the U.S. jobs report. The number of people out of work in the euro zone increased in April to the highest number since the introduction of the common currency. -By Liz Moyer and Corrie Driebusch, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2512; liz.moyer@dowjones.com; Twitter: @lizmoyer --Chris Dieterich contributed to this article.
