NEW YORK: Stocks fell sharply on Friday, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite to their worst week of the year, after a government report on April job gains came in below forecasts and investors fretted about weekend elections in Europe.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 168.32 points, or 1.3 percent, to 13,038.27.
All 30 blue-chip stocks ended lower, led by more than 3 percent losses in Bank of America Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. For the week, the Dow lost 1.4 percent.
The S&P 500 index lost 22.47 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,369.10. It was the S&P 500’s worst week since Dec. 16, with a 2.4 percent decline.
The Nasdaq composite declined 67.96 points, or 2.3 percent, to 2,956.34 — down 3.7 percent on the week. That was the index’s worst one-day and weekly loss since late November.
