Jobs Data Wallop Wall Street

Updated from 4:22 p.m. EDT

Stocks tumbled Friday after a government report showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly lost jobs last month, raising fears in some quarters of a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 249.97 points, or 1.87%, to 13,113.38. The S&P 500 fell 25 points, or 1.69%, to 1453.55, and the Nasdaq Composite sank 48.62 points, or 1.86%, to 2565.70.

The U.S. economy gave up 4,000 jobs last month, according to a report from the Labor Department, the first decline in the nonfarm payrolls in four years. The figure was shockingly below economists' expectations for an addition of 100,000 nonfarm jobs. There was also a net downward revision of 81,000 jobs to the previous two months. ...