NEW YORK (AFP) - Stocks swung lower as a weaker-than-expected US employment report for September heightened fears of an economic slowdown, with high oil prices also weighing on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 29.86 points, or 0.29 percent, to 10,095.54, while the Nasdaq composite retreated 14.10 points, or 0.72 percent, to 1,934.42 at 1610 GMT.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 3.61 points, or 0.32 percent to 1,127.04.
Data showing the US economy added 96,000 jobs in September disappointed most forecasters and suggested the economy was not growing fast enough to absorb new labor market entrants.
"We have a bit of a disappointment with the employment numbers, which came in lower than expected," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at SW Bach. "But the report still shows the economy is adding jobs."
But Oppenheimer and Co. chief investment strategist Michael Metz said bargain-hunting by investors were limiting declines.
"The market is in a position where people are under-committed to it," said Metz. "There's too much money waiting for an entry-point and yesterday's easiness is considered a short-term trading opportunity."
Metz said September's employment report was an "absolute" disappointment, but added, "The flip side of that is that it may defer any further moves by the Fed toward tightening."
Wall Street also weighed a new record high for London-traded Brent oil and an upbeat earnings report from General Electric, a diversified conglomerate that some see as a benchmark for the economy as a whole.
GE shares traded down 15 cents to 33.80 even after the company met earnings targets and offered relatively upbeat guidance.
Telecom operator AT and T meanwhile rose 28 cents to 15.32 after announcing it was cutting 20 percent of its workforce this year and writing down the value of its network.
Advanced Micro Devices, the semiconductor giant, slid 44 cents to 13.67 after meeting its lowered estimates for third-quarter earnings of 44 million dollars, or 12 cents a share, and sales of 1.239 billion dollars.
Alcoa slumped 44 cents to 33.68 as investors sold off after the aluminum giant met its earnings targets.
Sun Microsystems dipped a penny to 4.22 and Kodak lost seven cents to 34.19 after Sun agreed to pay the photo giant 92 million dollars to settle a suit involving Sun's Java programming language and patents held by Kodak.
Bonds rallied as the disappointing jobs report suggested sluggish growth ahead and less aggressive action by the Federal Reserve on boosting interest rates.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond tumbled to 4.138 percent from 4.244 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.906 percent from 4.998 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.