国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks post biggest first-quarter gains in 12 years

Wall Street opened lower after ADP reported that private sector employers slashed 23,000 jobs in March, missing expectations for an increase of about 40,000 jobs. And the February data was adjusted to 24,000 jobs lost from originally reported 20,000. The report spurred concerns that economists are too optimistic about the rebound in employment two days before a Labor Department report forecast to show the biggest growth in jobs in three years.

Major indexes dropped deeper after the worse-than-expected Chicago PMI reading. The regional manufacturing index slipped to 58.8 in March from 62.6 the previous month, while economists had expected a smaller drop to 61.

Meanwhile, factory orders for manufactured goods rose 0.6 percent in February, slightly higher than analysts' expectations but significantly less than January's 2.5 percent increase.