US stocks close on steep weekly losses
A stock specialist watches prices as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange August 5, 2011. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2 percent to 11,403.06 in early trading on Friday, in a volatile opening after the release of a better-than-expected US employment report. The broader S&P 500 was down 0.1 percent to 1,199.00, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped 0.7 percent to 2,538.53 after 40 minutes of trading. Stocks initially rallied more than one percent, then pared their gains and dipped into the red after the US Labor Department said the country’s economy generated 117,000 jobs in July, cutting the unemployment rate down a notch to 9.1 percent.
U.S. stocks were up slightly at Friday's close after a volatile trading session and a week of steep drops over fears of Europe's escalating debt problems and a weak economic outlook for the United States.
Stocks had their worst week in more than two years, while major averages "whipsawed" Friday, with the Dow ending slightly up and the S&P 500 closing with a slim loss.
The Dow Jones industrial average, coming off the prior session's 513-point drop, gained 60.93 points, or 0.54 percent, to 11,444.61, ending the week off 5.8 percent, MarketWatch reports.
The stock market today opened with a bounce on news of a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report. The decline in the U.S. jobless rate also briefly lifted European indexes.
But the rise was short lived, and London's FTSE and Frankfurt's Dax both closed down about 2.7 percent.
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U.S. stocks slumped in the late morning but were buoyed in early afternoon trading by comments from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who said Italy will speed up measures to balance its budget, Reuters reports.
At Friday's close, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.70 of a point, or 0.06 percent, at 1,199.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 23.98 points, or 0.94 percent, at 2,532.41.
As of Thursday's close, the S&P 500 was down about 10 percent for the last 10 trading sessions.
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