Stock prices fluctuated sharply, as they often do the day after a big slide. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 100 points

Stock prices fluctuated sharply, as they often do the day after a big slide. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 100 points in early afternoon trading, having been down as much as nearly 280 points earlier. Traders remained anxious amid questions about what caused Thursday’s sudden drop, which sent the stocks of several companies briefly to almost zero.The market looked past a surprisingly strong report on the U.S. jobs market and focused instead on Europe’s spreading debt crisis and Thursday’s plunge. The Dow was down nearly 1,000 points Thursday afternoon — its largest one-day drop — before recovering two-thirds of its losses.

In early afternoon trading the Dow fell 96.28, or 0.9 percent, to 10,424.04. It had been down as much as 279 in earlier trading, and at a few points recouped all its losses for the day before slipping again in the early afternoon.The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 11.56, or 1 percent, to 1,116.59, while the Nasdaq composite fell 32.70, or 1.4 percent, to 2,286.94.Falling stocks outpaced gainers two-to-one on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was a heavy 1.1 billion shares.

Technology stocks were particularly hard hit following reports that Nokia Corp. was broadening its legal fight against rival cell phone maker Apple Inc. to include the iPad, Apple’s new hit product. Apple shares fell 2.6 percent in heavy trading.Meanwhile Europe’s debt problems again weighed on stocks. Germany’s parliament approved Berlin’s share of the rescue package after a boisterous debate. However, investors still fear that Greece may not make a May 19 deadline to make a debt repayment.

Investors’ concern goes far beyond Greece, the smallest economy in the European Union. A further loss of confidence in European government debt could have an impact on other weak countries like Portugal, potentially requiring another difficult bailout process. The debt crisis has already badly undermined Europe’s shared currency, the euro.

“You’re not concerned about the kid with the cold, but how he spreads it to the rest of the class,” said Len Blum, a managing partner at investment bank Westwood Capital. Blum noted that Greece’s debt problem could be similar to the subprime mortgage meltdown in the U.S., which quickly spread to other parts of the financial system.Friday’s trading left the Dow down about 4 percent for the week and barely in the black for the year. The S&P was also down about 5 percent, while the Nasdaq was off 6 percent. The S&P and Nasdaq were also both still positive for 2010.The week’s losses would put the market about halfway through what experts call a “correction,” usually defined as a drop of between 10 percent and 20 percent following a sustained rise.

Stocks have been on a nearly uninterrupted upward path since March of last year, when indexes hit 12-year lows. Analysts have been predicting a correction for months, only to see the market bounce back after brief periods of decline.Long-term market watchers actually welcome occasional pullbacks in the market, saying that gives investors opportunities to pick up shares at bargain prices.”A corrective phase is in play,” said Rob Lutts, president and chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management.

If he’s right, this correction would be far faster than the historical average. “We used to take weeks and months to do what we now do in days,” Lutts said.In economic news, the Labor Department reported that employers added 290,000 jobs last month, far more than expected and the biggest jump in four years. However the jobless rate rose to 9.9 percent from 9.7 percent as more people looked for work.

The big improvement in the jobs report brought some clarity to the biggest question remaining for the U.S. economy: When employers would start hiring again. Despite positive signs in manufacturing and housing, job creation has been lagging far behind other sectors of the economy, a worrisome point for economists. Friday’s report may help change that perception.”It’s a good-size number and it had a lot of breadth,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. “There isn’t a double-dip out there. The employment situation suggests that we have a sustained economic recovery in the U.S. Companies are hiring people.”

Apple fell $6.37, or 2.6 percent, to $239.88.Oil fell, and gold rose. The dollar was mostly lower against most currencies. The euro clawed back some ground against the dollar after several days of declines.European markets were broadly lower.The declines were deepest in France, where the CAC-40 index tumbled 4.6 percent. Germany’s DAX fell 3.3 percent and Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.6 percent. Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.1 percent.

strong winter storm slammed New York City and much of the U.S. Northeast on Friday

NEW YORK  A strong winter storm slammed New York City and much of the U.S. Northeast on Friday, forcing businesses, schools and transportation systems to shut down.Commuters struggled in the absence of suburban train and bus services into New York City, where several inches (cm) of snow accumulation and drifts of several feet snarled morning rush hour travel.On Wall Street, workers pitched in electronically or braved the storm to get to their jobs, so trading was unlikely to take a heavy hit, observers said.”I don’t think it will affect the volume, and volumes have been light anyway,” said Alan Valdes, director of floor trading at Kabrik Trading. “I would guess volumes would be light whether it was sunny and in the 70s or not.”

The wintry blast, which began on Thursday and was predicted to last through Saturday, was the third heavy storm to hit the region in a month.Bond trading was light due to the inclement weather, said William Larkin, fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts.”New York is probably out of the picture,” he said.Parts of Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, upstate New York and Massachusetts could expect snow accumulations of as much as two feet, the National Weather Service said.The storm was moving very slowly and was expected to hover over the Northeast through Saturday, the NWS said.The impact of the bad winter weather could be felt throughout a U.S. economy still struggling to emerge from recession.

HIGH WINDS

“The issue … has been the unusual weather this quarter, said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates, in Toronto,In New York City, subway service was slowed and buses struggled to navigate snow-covered streets.Strong winds, gusting up to 60 miles per hour in eastern Long Island, posed danger to those venturing outside, the NWS said.Among the storm’s casualties, a man was struck and killed by a snow-laden tree limb that fell in Central Park on Thursday, authorities said. The roof of a home in suburban New Jersey collapsed under the heavy snow, and a snowplow and an automobile collided in suburban New York, causing an undermined number of injuries, authorities said.

Some 28,000 people were without power in suburban New York, and more than 2,000 customers suffered outages in the city, Con Edison said. More than 2,000 customers were without power in New Jersey, local power authorities said.Schools were closed in New York City, Philadelphia and elsewhere in the Northeastern states.Hundreds of flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport, while delays were reported at John F. Kennedy International Airport and flights canceled at Philadelphia’s airport, authorities said.Winds gusted up to 50 miles per hour in Philadelphia, which declared a snow emergency, its fourth of the winter.Amtrak canceled regional trains in upstate New York, and commuter bus service was suspended in northern New Jersey.(Reuters)