US STOCKS-Wall Street slides on disappointing jobs data

* June payrolls data much worse than expected

* Commodity prices ease as U.S. dollar rises

* Consumer discretionary shares take a hit

* Dow down 2.1 pct, S&P off 2.3 pct, Nasdaq off 2.4 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news click [STXNEWS/US]
(Updates to midday, changes byline)

By Rachel Chang

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - U.S stocks slid on Thursday
after payrolls data showed much worse-than-expected job losses
for June, a sign that hopes for a quick economy recovery may
be premature.

U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than the
363,000 forecast by a Reuters survey. The unemployment rate
rose to 9.5 percent, the highest since August 1983, the
government said on Thursday, as the labor market continues to
struggle. [ID:nN01210643]

Stock losses were felt most heavily in the S&P 500's
consumer discretionary sector, which fell 3.3 percent.
Hotelier Marriott International (MAR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped 3.3 percent to
$20.49, and clothing retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 4.7 percent
to $15.28.

"The market has been on a high for the last few months,
based on the belief that some of the stimulus seems to be
working," said Gordon Fowler, Jr, chief investment officer of
the Glenmede Trust Company in Philadelphia. "But they now have
reason to be disappointed as it doesn't appear that the
stimulus has translated into new jobs.

"If the economy were a car, I would say the brakes work,
but it's not clear that the accelerator does."

Volume was light with Wall Street's trading desks thinly
staffed ahead of the three-day U.S. Independence Day weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 176.77
points, or 2.08 percent, to 8,327.29. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index .SPX fell 21.39 points, or 2.32 percent, to
901.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC slid 44.65 points,
or 2.42 percent, to 1,801.07.

Commodity prices slipped and U.S. Treasury debt prices
edged higher after the jobs data. Crude oil futures CLc1
fell $2.51, or 3.6 percent, to $66.80 a barrel, helped by a
stronger U.S dollar.

U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) slid 2.5
percent to $68.78, and its rival Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 2
percent to $65.22.

NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shares fell 4.4 percent to $24.91
after Exelon Corp (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) raised its hostile takeover bid for
the independent power producer by more than 12 percent to
$7.45 billion, ahead of NRG's annual meeting. [ID:nN02545292]

Among Dow components, healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it would buy a $1 billion stake in Elan Corp plc
(ELN.I: Quote, Profile, Research) and acquire most rights to the Irish company's
portfolio of experimental drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease.
[ID:nL2891369]

Elan's U.S.-traded shares (ELN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shot up 13.7 percent to
$7.96 on the New York Stock Exchange, while J&J's stock fell
1.8 percent to $56.05 and helped drag on the Dow.

In other economic news, a report showed U.S. factory orders
were better than expected in May, but this was largely ignored
as the stock market's broad sell-off continued through midday.
[ID:nN0220084]
(Editing by Jan Paschal)