Stocks fell modestly Friday after recovering from steep losses late in the session, as concerns about U.S. unemployment continued to affect the market. Despite Friday's decline, the three major indexes ended the week higher. The Dow industrials and the Standard & Poor's 500 both rose 1.8 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 1.5 percent. In U.S. economic news, the economy lost 131,000 jobs in July as the government cut 143,000 temporary census workers. The net job loss was significantly higher than economists had expected. The private sector added 71,000 jobs, fewer than economists had expected. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent, in contrast to economist expectations that it would rise to 0.6 percent. The weak jobs report raised speculation that the government may take additional steps to support the weakening recovery as earlier economic stimulus measures fade. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for September delivery fell $1.16 to $80.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold rose $8.50 to $1,207.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.42, or 0.2 percent, to 10,653.56. The broader S&P 500 index fell 4.17, or 0.4 percent, to 1,121.64. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 4.59, or 0.2 percent, to 2,288.47.
