S&P 500 Caps Worst Week in ’12 on Disappointing Jobs Data

From bloomberg.com

U.S. stocks declined a third day, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its worst week in 2012, after data showing employers added fewer jobs than forecast intensified concern about the pace of economic recovery. The S&P 500 retreated 1.6 percent to 1,368.88 at 4 p.m. New York time, according to preliminary closing data, extending its weekly decline to 2.5 percent. “The data point to sluggish job growth, declining labor market participation and for those employed, stagnant purchasing power,” Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said in an e-mail ... (full story)