North American stocks were weak at the start of trading on Wednesday after a disappointing report on private sector jobs gains in the United States last month.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 41 points or 0.3 per cent, to 12,529. The broader S&P 500 fell 4 points or 0.3 per cent, to 1341. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 6 points, to 13,809.

The ADP report showed that private sector employers added just 38,000 jobs in May, versus expectations for far greater gains of 190,000. The latest gains are also down significantly from April, when employers added a revised 177,000 jobs. The disappointment raises concerns about the official payrolls report from the U.S. Labor Department on Friday.

Against that backdrop, U.S. bank stocks were particularly weak, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. down 1.9 per cent and Bank of America Corp. down 1.3 per cent. Alcoa Inc. fell 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, winning stocks posted slight gains. International Business Machines Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 0.2 per cent each.

Among Canadian stocks, Bombardier Inc. rose 5.2 per cent after it secured a modest-sized order for its upcoming C Series jet, to a Swedish customer.

However, Suncor Energy Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.2 each. Research In Motion Ltd., hit hard on Tuesday after Nokia Corp. issued a profit warning, fell another 2.5 per cent on Wednesday, taking the BlackBerry maker to a fresh 52-week low.

As for Nokia, it fell another 6.7 per cent in New York as analysts lowered their target prices on the stock and warned of rising competition from the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google's Android phones.