U.S. shares lower on nonfarm payroll miss; Dow opens down 0.57%

[John Starks]

U.S. shares opened lower Friday, as the nonfarm payroll numbers missed estimates igniting the risk off trade.

Near the open of U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.57%, the S&P 500 fell 0.74%, while the Nasdaq Composite plunged 1.09%.

Igniting the risk off sentiment, U.S. nonfarm payrolls advanced less-than-expected last month, official data showed on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported non-farm payrolls climbed to a seasonally adjusted 115K, from 154K in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 120K.

Economists had expected U.S. non-farm payrolls to rise 170K last month.

Adding to the equity bearish uncertainty, France and Greece will hold elections over the weekend.

French voters will decide on the final round of the countries presidential race and Greece will be voting on a new parliament.

Francois Hollande, the Socialist challenger for the French highest office, is the leading incumbent. He is calling for a re-negotiation of the budget pact with European leaders, saying it needs to place more of an emphasis on growth. He has rejected Sarkozy’s plan to increase sales taxes to fund lower payroll charges.

Meanwhile in Greece, neither of the two major political parties, New Democracy and Socialist Pasok is likely to win the majority.

On Thursday, in the U.K., a report showed that service sector activity expanded at a slower rate than expected in April, falling to the lowest level since November, but the report indicated that the overall outlook remained positive.

The services purchasing managers index fell to 53.3 in April, from 55.3 the previous month, worse than expectations for a decline to 54.6.

Bebe Stores plunged 17% after missing the USD0.08 per share earnings estimate.

Linkedin Corp advanced 7.5% after reporting first quarter sales and profit exceeding estimates.

Digital Globe, a satellite photography company, jumped 18% after GeoEye make a USD17.00 per share offer for the company.

In the midst of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 trades down 1.01%, France's CAC 40 moved lower by 1.30% and Germany’s DAX dropped 1.32%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 gave back 1.30%.