Stock indexes closing lower as jobs data sparks uncertainty

Wall Street capped a wobbly day of trading with a broad slide for stocks Friday, after a weak jobs report raised questions about the Federal Reserve’s timeline to pare back its immense support for markets.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% after wavering between small gains and losses for much of the day. The modest drop snapped a three-day winning streak for the benchmark index. Even so, it managed a 0.8% gain for the week, less than half of the index’s loss last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.69 points, or less than 0.1%, to 34,746.25, and the Nasdaq composite slid 74.48 points, or 0.5%, to 14,579.54.

Wall Street reacted with uncertainty and disappointment to the highly anticipated September jobs report. U.S. stocks moved up and down throughout the day, as did Treasury yields.