US Markets
U.S. stocks started the week with a sharp loss after Friday's worse-than-expected jobs data cast doubt on the pace of the labor market's recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 131 points, or 1%, to 12930, its fourth-straight decline. The session was the first following the labor report's release on the Friday before Easter, a holiday for U.S. markets. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 16 points, or 1.1%, to 1382, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 33 points, or 1.1%, to 3047. The pullback followed the biggest weekly decline of the year for all three indexes amid concerns about Europe's sovereign-debt woes. All 10 S&P 500 sectors retreated Monday, with industrial and financial stocks tumbling the most. Bank of America led the Dow lower, easing 3.3%. Nonfarm payrolls increased 120,000 in March, the Labor Department reported. The result snapped a three-month streak of 200,000-plus job growth. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected, on average, an increase of 203,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 8.2% from February's 8.3%, beating expectations of an unchanged reading and making it the lowest rate since January 2009. But the decline largely reflected that the pool of U.S. workers shrank as people gave up searching for jobs. Investors looked ahead to remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scheduled for a conference in Georgia after the market's close. Debate has mounted about the prospects for more monetary stimulus efforts from the Fed. Tuesday, Alcoa is due to report first-quarter earnings. The aluminum maker's report signals the unofficial start of the corporate-earnings season. In corporate news, AOL soared 43% after the company said it agreed to sell more than 800 patents and related patent applications to Microsoft and grant Microsoft a license to its retained patents in exchange for $1.06 billion. Microsoft slipped 1.3%. Medicaid insurers Molina Healthcare and Centene fell as they stand to lose business after the state of Ohio said it is shaking up the ranks of Medicaid health plans. Molina plunged 27% while Centene dropped 15%. Major European markets were closed Monday for the Easter Monday holiday.

Asian Markets
Asian stock markets ended lower Monday after China's inflation rate accelerated in March and a weak American employment report dragged on U.S. equity futures, while a stronger yen weighed on shares of exporters in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.5%, ending lower for a fifth straight trading day. China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.9%, South Korea's Kospi lost 1.6% and Taiwan's Taiex dropped 1.4%. Stock markets in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Philippines were closed for public holidays. Regional stocks began the week's trading on a weak note, after data released Friday showed the U.S. economy created just 120,000 jobs in March, well below market expectations. Although U.S. markets were closed Friday, index futures dropped sharply after the data. Stock losses were spread across several sectors in Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei Monday following the U.S. data, with Japanese exporters also pressured by the yen's strength. Data released earlier Monday showed Japan returned to a current account surplus in February, after posting a deficit in January. Toyota Motor lost 2.4% and Canon dropped 1.7% in Tokyo, while Samsung Electronics fell 1.1% and LG Electronics lost 3.9% in Seoul. In Taipei, Hon Hai Precision Industry fell 1.4% and HTC Corp. slumped 6.8%. Sony staged a sharp rebound in Tokyo, erasing early losses to finish 0.6% higher after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company planned to cut 10,000 jobs, about 6% of its total work force, worldwide. Meanwhile, Chinese inflation data also disappointed, with March's consumer price index rising 3.6%, up from 3.2% in February and beating expectations for a 3.3% increase. Property developers, automobile stocks and banks declined on mainland bourses, with Gemdale Corp. dropping 1.6% and Poly Real in Shanghai and China Vanke Co. falling 1.9% in Shenzhen. Also ranking among the notable losers in Shanghai, SAIC Motor Corp. fell 2.3%, while Construction Bank Corp. and China Citic Bank Corp. dropped 1.3% and 2.3%, respectively.

Commodities
The LME was closed Monday for Easter. Crude oil futures fell Monday, briefly brushing eight-week lows as talks between Iran and major powers set for later this week helped ease worries about conflict in the oil-producing region. Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled 85 cents, or 0.8%, lower at $102.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dipping as low as $100.81 earlier in the session. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange fell 54 cents to $122.75 a barrel. Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to resume talks with six global powers over its nuclear program in Istanbul on April 14. The decision lowered fears among oil traders that tensions between Iran and the West could result in military action or the loss of supplies from one of the world's largest crude exporters. Gold rose as traders bet last week's U.S. unemployment report had increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would maintain its accommodative policy to boost the economy. The most actively traded contract, for June delivery, rose $13.80, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,643.90 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.