US stocks drop early Friday

U.S. markets dropped Friday after the Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent in October. A month after the rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 7.8 percent, the tick upward rate was a reminder that the economic recovery was not in a hurry. With New York still recovering from a massive hurricane, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 42.34 points, 0.32 percent, to 13,190.28 on The New York Stock Exchange. In midmorning trading, the Nasdaq composite index shed 8.66 points, 0.29 percent, to 3,011.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 1.97 points, 0.14 percent, to 1,425.62. The benchmark 10-year treasury fell 5/32 to yield 1.743 percent. The euro fell to $1.2849 from Thursday's $1.2943. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 80.49 yen from 80.14 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 1.17 percent, 104.35, to 9,051.22.