Stocks tumble as employers slash jobs at rapid pace

BROADCAST AND DIGITAL RESTRICTIONS~**

Broadcasters: No Use USA of Trump broll or soundbite. No Use VOA. Digital: (TRUMP VIDEO AND SOUNDBITE - ONLY): US DIGITAL CUSTOMERS: NO USE BY UNIVISION, BBC AMERICA OR THEIR DIGITAL/MOBILE PROPERTIES. EDITED VIDEO MUST BE USED IN ITS ENTIRETY. EXISTING GRAPHICS MAY BE OVERWRITTEN BY CLIENT'S OWN GRAPHICS BUT NO FURTHER EDITS ARE PERMITTED, INCLUDING FOR LENGTH. NON-US DIGITAL CUSTOMERS: NO USE IN BROADCASTS. NO USE BY AUSTRALIA BROADCASTER WEBSITES . For Reuters customers only.

PLEASE NOTE ABOVE RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF TRUMP BROLL/SOT

Wall Street was hit with another dose of cold, hard reality on Friday as America's record-setting period of job growth came to a screeching halt.

Worries the labor bloodbath could portend a long and deep global economic downturn pulled the Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down more than one percent.

The forced shutdown of many parts of the economy, especially in the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors, resulted in the jaw-dropping loss of 701,000 jobs in March. That's the biggest plunge in payrolls in 11 years.

The unemployment rate spiked to 4.4 percent.

Economists predict this is just the beginning.

Goldman Sachs forecasts the jobless rate will eventually surge to 15 percent.

Predictions of those kind make it hard for investors like Gerry Frigon of Taylor Frigon Capital Management to guess where the stock market goes next.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) GERRY FRIGON, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, TAYLOR FRIGON CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, SAYING:

"I think the market right now is in a no-man's land. There's not liquidity of much at all in the market. I think that there has been such a significant amount of selling - despite the rally last week - probably the backing and filling that we're getting today is partly some folks that had traded that rally and are taking it off the table. I think right now the market sold off so hard, it's kind of in a wait-and-see, so it should just be sloppy, I think from here on out."

The energy sector remained a focus of market attention.

President Trump held a meeting at the White House with oil execs on Friday to discuss the crisis facing the industry.

SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"We'll get our energy business back. I'm with you 1,000 percent. It's a great business. It's a very vital business. And honestly, you've been very fair. You kept energy prices reasonable for a long period of time; we've got a long period of time with very reasonable energy prices."

Eyes were also on Saudi Arabia and Russia amid speculation the two are ready to bury the hatchet and agree to a production cut.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he would agree to slash output only if OPEC and the U.S. did as well.

A meeting of OPEC and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, is set for Monday, according to OPEC sources.

Global oil prices rallied sharply Friday, capping their biggest weekly gain ever.