US stocks end mixed after job figures

Investors are now used to bad news, but monthly lay-offs topping 600,000 still made for a volatile day on Wall Street.

Stocks soared, sank and then clawed their way back to a mixed close tonight after the Labor Department released its February jobs report.

Employers cut 651,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate jumped to 8.1%. The US government also revised its December and January job loss figures upward.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 32 at 6,626. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up less than a point at 683. The Nasdaq composite index is down 5 1,293.

Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.77 billion shares.