FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Signs of weakness in the US labor market put additional pressure on the Dax on Friday. The leading German index extended its decline in the early afternoon and fell by 2.2 percent to 17,679.84 points. This is a low since April. The EuroStoxx 50 fell by 2.3 percent.

The surprisingly weak development of the US labor market is grist to the mill of investors, who fear that the Fed is lagging behind the economy with its interest rate policy. Such fears had already caused gloomy sentiment signals from industry to boil over the previous day. Until recently, the Fed had stuck to its key interest rate, which had been raised sharply in the fight against inflation, but had vaguely mentioned a cut as a possibility for September./mis/jha/