NEW YORK: US stocks fell Friday as investors digested a mixed bag of US jobs data and kept an eye glued to Europe's public debt crisis, with Greece's fate still uncertain.
After opening in the red, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled further, losing 150.08 points (1.25 percent) to 11,894.39 by 1430 GMT.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 36.60 points (1.36 percent) to 2,661.37, while the S&P 500-stock index, a broader measure of the markets, dropped 18.12 points (1.44 percent) to 1,243.03.
Wall Street stocks have swung widely amid heightened volatility this week in reaction to the fast-changing developments in Europe, and ended Thursday firmly in positive territory.
"Europe remains in focus, with political uncertainty in Greece ahead of its confidence vote tonight fostering concerns about the implementation of the last week's eurozone bailout plan," Charles Schwab analysts said.
Greece abandoned its controversial plan to hold a referendum on the country's latest European Union rescue proposal.
But Athens' leadership still faces a parliamentary confidence vote Friday that risks bringing down the government and plunging Greece and the eurozone into further turmoil.
In a mixed October jobs report from the Labor Department, the US unemployment rate unexpectedly slipped to 9.0 percent from 9.1 percent the prior month.
But the number of net new jobs added -- 80,000 -- disappointed, though improvement was seen in upward revisions to prior months' numbers.
"The synopsis of the October report is that it matches a low-growth environment. It also reveals, as have past reports, that there is still much work to be done to improve the labor market," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
Among stocks in focus, the online daily deals firm Groupon was to make its long-awaited Wall Street debut later in the day.
Groupon, which rejected a $6 billion takeover offer from Internet giant Google a year ago, is offering 35 million shares priced at $20.
Computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices slid 3.1 percent to $5.55 after announcing late Thursday it would slash 10 percent of its workforce, or about 1,400 jobs, to cut costs.
Embattled insurance giant American International Group dropped 4.5 percent to $23.52 after reporting a bigger-than-expected $4.1 billion quarterly loss.
Bond prices climbed as investors sought safety. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.03 percent from 2.07 percent Thursday, while that on the 30-year Treasury dropped to 3.90 percent from 3.12 percent.
Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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