Stocks closed mostly lower Friday as fear over the European debt crisis overshadowed the better-than-expected U.S. unemployment report for December. The report showed the unemployment rate declining to 8.5 percent and indicated a 200,000 increase in job creation. The euro fell 0.6 percent versus the dollar, continuing to hold at its 15-month low. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery lost 53 cents to $101.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $3.30 to $1,616.80 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 55.78, or 0.45 percent, to 12,359.92. Shares of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley all fell between 1 and 2 percent. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.40, or 0.25 percent, to 1,273.50. The Nasdaq rose 12.50, or 0.20 percent, to 2,352.00.
