Stocks struggled to gain Wednesday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report killed some momentum toward a market rebound.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) was up slightly, while the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq (COMP) was up about 0.7%.

The ADP report showed less of a job-market gain than economists had hoped, which dented stocks trying to recoup losses from the prior session.

Worries about the pace of the global economic recovery slammed stocks around the world Tuesday. The S&P 500 tumbled 3.1%, following a sharp drop in Asia and Europe.

One of the triggers for the sell-off was a report that suggested growth in China would slow in the second half of 2010, which raised worries about the prospect of a global economic slowdown.

“The market really got knocked yesterday, so now we’re seeing a bounce-back,” said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets. “After the battering markets have taken recently, it looks like we’re headed for somewhat of a recovery and quiet trading ahead of the key employment numbers on Friday.”

Economy: A report on private sector jobs from payroll processing firm ADP showed the U.S. economy gained 13,000 jobs in June. The figure was significantly less than the 61,000 increase forecast from economists surveyed by Briefing.com, after a revised gain of 57,000 in May.

The ADP report came ahead of the all-important employment report released by the U.S. government on Friday.

World markets: Economic woes continued to hammer markets in Asia Wednesday, where stocks extended losses. The Shanghai Composite lost 1.1%, Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 2% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong declined 0.6%.

European shares struggled in afternoon trading. Britain’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC 40 and the DAX in Germany were all slightly lower.

Companies: Executives from Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) will testify before a congressional committee on derivatives.

Prepared remarks from Joseph Cassano, the man who ran the business at the center of AIG’s collapse, showed he would maintain he led efforts to shield the insurer from fallout.

Dollar and commodities: The dollar was lower against the euro and the Japanese yen but up versus the British pound.

U.S. light crude oil for August delivery fell 15 cents to $75.79 a barrel.

COMEX gold’s August contract dropped $5 to $1,237.40 per ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 2.95%. On Tuesday, the yield fell below the critical 3% level for the first time since April 2009. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

By CNNMoney

Tags: businesses, Dow Jones Industrial, economic recovery, economists, global economic, Nasdaq composite, stocks, world markets

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