NEW YORK — Stocks finished lower Friday, with gains in the Dow Jones industrials and Standard & Poor’s 500 fading out at the close as investors considered a drop in the U.S. jobless rate and Europe’s debt crisis, but the Dow still scored its biggest weekly point jump in three years.
The Dow fell 0.61, or 0.01 percent, to close at 12,019.42, reversing course in the final minutes of trading after touching a high of 12,146.68 during the session.
The benchmark index was up 7 percent, or 787.64 points, on the week, to score its largest weekly point gain since the week ending Oct. 31, 2008, and the second-biggest weekly point gain in its history.
After a sharp jump, stocks came off their highs as investors assessed the jobs report, said Bob Phillips, managing partner of Spectrum Management Group in Indianapolis.
“It was initially viewed as very positive, but the job situation still isn’t resolved,” Phillips said. “I view it as being a wash, not negative, not positive, but more of the mediocre results we’ve been getting the past couple of years.”
The November jobs report confirms “the economy, at least in the United States, is doing better,” said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.
“The big wild card out there is Europe, not only the debt crisis, but that Europe is likely slipping into a recession, and how deep that is could affect the economy here,” Sorensen said.
The S&P 500 shed less than a point to end at 1,244.28. The index was up 7.4 percent from the previous Friday’s close, its biggest weekly percentage gain since the week ended March 13, 2009.
Up 7.6 percent on the week to end a four-week losing streak, the Nasdaq composite edged up less than a point to finish at 2,626.93.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel called Friday for quick treaty changes that would pave the way for closer fiscal union in the 17-nation eurozone.
Her comments come ahead of this week’s summit of European Union leaders.
