Stocks Plunge Into the Weekend

During the prior two sessions, the Dow rallied around 250 points, but almost the entirety of those gains were collected during the final hour of trading each day. Intraday swings have become the norm, and stock averages have repeatedly turned on a dime from positive to negative and back again.

Last time out, the Dow rose 100.96 points, or 0.76%, to 13,463.33. The S&P 500 was up 6.39 points, or 0.44%, to 1472.20, and the Nasdaq gained 22.11 points, or 0.87%, to 2575.98.

Friday's steep decline resulted in another poor weekly performance for the major averages. Over the five sessions, the Dow slipped 0.6%, the S&P 500 slid 1.6%, and the Nasdaq gave back 1.9%.

On the New York Stock Exchange 4.54 billion shares changed hands, as decliners topped advancers by a 5-to-1 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 2.53 billion shares, with losers outpacing advancers 4 to 1.

Meanwhile, the employment report, one of the most important pieces of data the government releases every month, showed that 92,000 workers were added to nonfarm payrolls in July. Economists had expected 135,000 positions to have been created.

The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.6% from 4.5% in June. Average hourly earnings, a key inflation metric, rose 0.3%, matching estimates.

Job growth for the prior month was revised downward. The government now says 6,000 fewer employees were put to work in June than had been first thought.

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