Diane Alter – AHN News ReporterNew York City, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks tumbled Friday following a report from the Labor Department that revealed employers added fewer than expected jobs in April.
The closely watched April jobs reports showed that 115,000 jobs were added in April, substantially less than the forecast of 160,000.
The news fueled a sell-off, taking the Dow down some 168 points, or 1.3 percent to end the week at 13,038. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slumped 22 points, or 1.6 percent to 1,369. And the NASDAQ gave back 68 points, or 2.2 percent to end at 2,956.
All the major indexes ended the week lower following two consecutive weeks of gains.
The S&P fell 2.3 percent over the last five trading sessions marking its largest weekly decline of 2012.
Energy stocks Friday felt the pressure from falling oil which slid 4.4 percent to below $100 a barrel.
The big news for the week came from Facebook which set a price range of $28 to $35 per share for its highly anticipated IPO, expected sometime later this month. It also increased the maximum size of the offering to $13.6 billion, up from its initial estimates of $5 billion.
After the close Friday, investment guru Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway posted first-quarter net income of $3.2 billion, an increase from the $1.5 billion it recorded in the same period a year earlier.
In world markets, European shares all ended the week lower and Asian markets were mixed.
Oil for June delivery lost $4.05 to settle at $98.56 a barrel. Gold rose $10.40 to end at $1,645.20 a troy ounce.
