Stocks slide as investors process meager jobs numbers

Stocks took a steep turn for the worse Monday as traders took a hard look at Friday's disappointing jobs report.

Investors were quick to sell when markets reopened after a break for Easter, and stocks slid across the board the opening bell. All three major stock indices — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ and S&P 500 — by mid-morning were down roughly 1 percent.

Monday's trades marked the first chance investors had to react to the misfire of Friday's jobs report, as markets were mostly closed Friday for a long holiday weekend. 

On Friday, the Labor Department reported the United States added just 120,000 jobs in March, substantially lower than anticipated, which came in over 200,000. Furthermore, while the report showed the unemployment rate dipping to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent, the reduction was due primarily to frustrated job seekers dropping out of the job market altogether.

The economy is expected to be the dominant issue in the fall campaign, and the worse-than-expected report was unwelcome news at the White House. 

Prior to the March report, the United States had logged steady gains of more than 200,000 jobs for the last three months, suggesting that President Obama could have a strong recovery at his back as he pursues reelection.

But if Friday's disappointing report is a sign of things to come, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, whose critiques of Obama's economic policy has been his rallying cry, could stand to gain. On Friday, Romney called the new report "weak and very troubling" and evidence that the president's policies were not working.

Monday's sell-off came on the heels of a rough prior week in financial markets, as stocks fell in what was the worst week of a year that has shown strong market gains. Concern over the stability of European economies, coupled with indications the Federal Reserve is not close to considering further stimulative projects, drove the downturn.

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