Wall Street Closes Mixed On Friday But Down Sharply For The Week
Friday September 05, 2008 16:32:00 EDT

(RTTNews) - Stocks ended Friday's session mixed after seeing significant selling pressure earlier in the day. While a disappointing monthly employment report sent jittery investors out of the stock markets early on, some investors looked for bargains in the afternoon following a dismal performance in the previous session.

Before the markets opened, the Labor Department released its highly anticipated monthly report on the employment situation, showing that employment continued to decrease in the month of August. The continued job losses helped to lift the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, its highest level since September 2003.

Chris Low, Chief Economist at FTN Financial Group said that the job loss reported this morning was twice as bad as expected when taking (continued...)