Wall Street Laid Low by Jobs Data

Senate Democrats said late Thursday that they'd reached an agreement with Citigroup (C Quote) to support a bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to alter the terms of mortgages owed by consumers filing for bankruptcy, aiming to alleviate foreclosures for those consumers.

Meanwhile, the private-equity arm of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers has reached an agreement to spin out into an independent firm, taking in a new investment from luxury-goods billionaire Johann Rupert, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In other corporate news, according to the Journal, Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) is wrapping up its search for a CEO. The Journal reports that final candidates include Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk (ADSK Quote).

The dollar declined against other major currencies. Oil prices fell $1.75 to $40.07 a barrel, while gold added $5.20 at $859.70 an ounce.

Longer dated Treasuries were recently rising; the 10-year note was rising 17/32 to yield 2.4%, and the 30-year was up 30/32, yielding 3%.

Overseas, the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt were falling Friday. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended with losses.