NEW YORK — Investors were taking few chances Friday while they waited for a confidence vote in Greece on the country’s embattled prime minister. Stocks fell on concerns that the country might not go through with an austerity program needed to prevent a default on its debt.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 61 points, recouping some of the ground it lost earlier in the day. The average fell 2 percent for the week, its first weekly loss since September.
Europe’s debt problems were again the focus for investors Friday — as they have been all week. Stocks plunged Monday and Tuesday after Prime Minister George Papandreou shocked investors with an announcement that he would put the country’s austerity plan to a public vote. He backed away from the plan, but investors are still unnerved by the political turmoil in Greece. It threatens to hobble Europe’s efforts to control its debt crisis.
In one bright spot Friday, Groupon Inc. jumped 31 percent to $26.11 on its first day of trading. The initial public offering of the company was priced at $20 a share late Thursday.
The dollar rose after the Labor Department raised its estimates for job growth. The nation added 80,000 jobs last month, the 13th consecutive month of gains. The government also said a total of 102,000 more jobs were added in August and September than previously reported.
The release of the monthly employment report is usually a focus for the stock market, but this time developments in Europe’s debt crisis were driving trading.
“Unless the jobs number came out with a huge surprise one way or the other, it’s just a momentary diversion from where the market focus has been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, until there is a resolution in Europe,” said Brad Sorenson, head of market analysis at Charles Schwab.
The Dow fell 61.23 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 11,983.24. It had been down as many as 194 points after the first hour of trading.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 7.92, or 0.6 percent, to 1,253.23. The Nasdaq composite shed 11.82, or 0.4 percent, to 2,686.15.
