Stocks close lower following weak jobs report

4/5/2013

NEW YORK — Stocks closed lower on Wall Street today after the U.S. government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month.

The Labor Department said hiring was the weakest in nine months.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 40 points at 14,565, a loss of 0.3 percent. It had been down as much as 171 points in the early going. The Dow ended flat for the week.

The Standard & Poor's 500 fell six points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,553. The Nasdaq fell 21 points, or 0.7 percent, to 3,203.

The S&P had its worst week of the year, and the Dow Jones Transportation Average had its worst week since September.

Slightly more stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was thinner than average at 3.4 billion shares.