US Jobless data is out and investors are not happy.

The FTSE 100 plummeted from 0.6% in the black to 0.6% in the red within the space of a minute as the clock hit 13:30. The JSE followed suit.

Investors, having just got wind of the latest US non-farm payroll data sold of equities while the US Dollar also lost ground.

The GBP USD rate shot higher as investors appear to have bought into sterling and other currencies such as the Australian Dollar. Where bad economic news used to prompt a flight for safety to the US Dollar, now we see the dollar being dumped as the US economy simply can't sustain real dollar value.

Morning trade on the FTSE 100 has largely been sideways, as was the case in the forex markets. The news was always going to be the big market mover of the day.

Non Farm Payroll data

US employers continued to hire but at a sluggish pace that adds to pessimism about the economic outlook and may put pressure of the Federal Reserve to take more steps to support the economy.

Private sector payrolls rose by an estimated 71,000 in July, the Labor Department said.

Total nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 131,000 in July, but all the lost jobs were temporary jobs at the U.S. Census.

The number of temporary Census workers dropped by 143,000. There are still 196,000 census workers on the payroll.

The nation's unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%.

The increase in private payrolls was weaker than the 100,000 increase that had been expected by Wall Street economists surveyed by MarketWatch. See calendars and forecasts of major U.S. indicators

Adding to the sense of weakness in employment, private payrolls in May and June were revised lower by a cumulative 34,000.

Private job growth has averaged 51,000 over the past three months. This is down from an average growth of 154,000 in February- April.