A dour report on job losses in June sent stocks
sharply lower.

Major stock indexes are down more than 2.4 % in the late
afternoon.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange is going on beyond the
usual 4 p.m. market close until 4:15 p.m. Eastern time in order to
execute customer orders impacted by system irregularities, an NYSE
spokeswoman says.

Investors are selling off stocks after a government report said
the U.S. unemployment rate hit a 26-year high last month.

The Dow Jones industrials are down 212 points to 8,291; the
Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 26 to 897 and the Nasdaq
composite index is down 49 to 1,796.