New York: Wall Street stocks on Friday finished lower despite a solid US jobs report and generally good corporate earnings as investors took a cautious stance after Thursday`s rout.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 69.03 points (0.42 percent) to 16,494.27.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 5.32 (0.28 percent) to 1,925.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 17.13 (0.39 percent) at 4,352.67.
All three indices rallied from their intra-session lows, with the Dow having fallen to 16,437.07 at midday.
US stocks fell about two percent Thursday in a battering that eliminated the Dow`s 2014 gains.
"How many people want to jump in the day after we have a 300-point-plus loss in the Dow?" said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Capital IQ.
Stovall said some investors fear a long-awaited correction may be afoot.
European stock markets finished sharply lower for a second day running, with the German DAX sinking 2.10 percent, London`s benchmark FTSE 100 index falling 0.76 percent and France`s CAC 40 tumbling 1.02 percent.
The Labor Department reported that the US economy added 209,000 jobs in July, down from June but maintaining the solid 200,000-plus monthly streak since February.
Procter & Gamble scored the day`s biggest gains in the Dow, rising 3.0 percent after reporting a 38 percent rise in quarterly earnings to $2.6 billion and announcing a plan to eliminate 90-100 underperforming brands.
