U.S. stock futures tumbled after a startlingly weak U.S. jobs report delivered another sign that the United States is heading toward recession, or is in one already.

About 30 minutes before the start of trading, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures plunged 131 points to 11,939, reversing early gains.

Nonfarm payrolls fell 63,000 in February, the U.S. Labour Department said Friday, after falling 22,000 in January, which was the first decline in over four years.

Here at home, the Canadian economy added another 43,000 jobs in February, turning in another surprisingly strong month of job gains.

Economists had been expecting only about 8,000 jobs to be created for the month.

In the wake of the jobs report, the Canadian dollar gained more than a cent to hit US102.42¢ on currency markets.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it would add further liquidity to money markets by increasing the size of their Term Auction Facility auctions to US$100 billion. The Fed said it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been set for US$30 billion apiece. Fed officials also said they are prepared to move to even larger amounts at future auctions if necessary.

Light, sweet crude fell 43¢ to $105.04 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange following Friday’s jobs report.

International markets tracked Wall Street’s Thursday declines. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng each lost over 3%.

The FTSE 100 was down almost 1% near midday in London, and the German DAX and Paris CAC 40 showed similar losses.

Resource and financial issues weighed heavily on Toronto stocks Thursday as markets were battered by credit market concerns and profit-taking in commodities.

The S&P/TSX Composite index closed down 242.88 points, or 1.78%, to finish at 13,360.44.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 33.16 points, or 1.18%, to close at 2,770.18.


The S&P/TSX Composite index closed down 242.88 points, or 1.78%, to finish at 13,360.44.

All of the 10 major TSX groups dropped.

The financials group sank 3.41%.

Canadian Western Bank shares fell $1.20, or 4.48%, to close at $25.58, despite reporting that earnings rose 27% in Q1, to $25.9 million.

Bank of Montreal stock tumbled today, closing down $3.02, or 6.71%, at $42.

Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Canada shares fell $1.75, or 3.68%, to end at $45.81.

The materials group fell 1.01%, and the base metals sector fell 1.19%. Eastern Platinum shares fell 30¢, or 7.37%, to end at $3.77.

The gold sub-index fell 0.78%.

Gold for April delivery fell US$11.40 to end at US$977.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

However, Eldorado Gold Corp. rose 84¢, or 12.63%, to close at $7.49 on a heavy day of trading (13,829,598 shares).

Meanwhile the heavyweight energy group dropped 0.98%.

Crude futures hit a record high earlier today before closing above $105 for the first time. The April contract gained 95¢, or 0.9%, to settle at
US$105.47 a barrel on the Nymex.

The information tech group also weighed on markets today, dropping 2.5%. This was led by Research in Motion. RIM shares fell $3.62, or 3.6%, to close at $96.81, after reports it plans to push the social networking capabilities of the Blackberry.

In individual stocks, Bombardier shares lost 14¢, or 2.55%, to end at $5.34.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lost 33.16 points, or 1.18%, to close at 2,770.18.

The Canadian dollar closed out at US$1.01 today.

In New York, financials weighed heavily on stocks as news that Merrill Lynch is bowing out of the mortgage business underscored anxiety over the mortgage crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 214.60 points, or 1.75%, to end at 12,040.39. The S&P 500 shed 29.36 points, or 2.20%, to finish the day at 1,304.34.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq shut down at 2,220.50, down 52.31 points, or 2.30%.