By Joseph Adinolfi and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Dow industrials slide 260 points as jobs report feeds bears

U.S. stocks slumped Friday, stretching losses as they headed into the close of a volatile week, after disappointing jobs growth in January was seen adding to the U.S. economy's woes.

Though the report had a silver lining in the form of strong hourly wage growth (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobs-growth-slows-to-151000-as-jobless-rate-hits-eight-year-low-2016-02-05) and a drop in the unemployment rate, the weak headline number dealt a blow to growth-oriented plays like information technology and consumer-oriented shares.

The Nasdaq Composite was particularly hard-hit by declines in the so-called FANGs -- Facebook Inc. (FB), Amazon Inc. (AMZN), Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) (GOOGL) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) -- which are all heavily weighted constituents of the index.

The Nasdaq was down 150 points, or 3.4%, to 4,358.65--on track for a 5.6% weekly drop.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 266.33 points, or 1.9%, to 16,149.14, on track for a weekly drop of 1.6%.

The S&P 500 shed 39.74 points, or 2.1%, to 1,875. Information technology shares led the index lower, followed by energy and consumer discretionary stocks. The index was on track for a weekly drop of 3.3%.

Falling oil prices also weighed on stocks. The U.S. crude-oil benchmark was down 0.5% at $31.54 a barrel, stretching its weekly loss (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-steady-as-a-weak-dollar-lends-support-2016-02-05) to 5.9%.

Analysts and investors appeared to focus on the negative details of the labor report, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.

The report "didn't do anything to put people who are worried about a recession at ease," said Mike Antonelli, equity sales trader at R.W Baird & Co.

"If your jobs numbers start slipping on top of all the industrial and manufacturing numbers, then all the pieces are coming together," he said.

Read: Why a January jobs slowdown may not be a bad sign (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-january-jobs-slowdown-may-not-be-a-bad-sign-2016-02-04)

U.S. stocks managed to eke out a small gain on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-point-to-further-gains-as-oil-rallies-2016-02-04), after tracking fluctuations in crude oil prices throughout much of the day. The S&P 500 index closed up 0.2%, while the Dow added 0.5%.

Movers and shakers: A few earnings blowups also weighed on stocks Friday. Shares of LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) plunged 40% after the social-networking company late Thursday forecast slower growth for the year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hunters-farmers-linkedin-earnings-confuse-investors-into-a-panic-2016-02-04).

Tableau Software (DATA) is down 48% after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $41.3 million, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tableau-software-shares-sink-38-after-quarterly-results-2016-02-04) or 57 cents a share, compared with a profit of $20.7 million, or 27 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

Symantec Inc. (SYMC) jumped 4.4% after the tech company said it is getting a fresh cash injection of $500 million (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/despite-billions-in-fresh-cash-symantec-will-cut-costs-and-go-into-debt-2016-02-04) from Silver Lake.

Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) advanced 9.4% after announcing an increase to its buyback program.

Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. (EL) gained 13.9% after fiscal second-quarter earnings beat expectations.

Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) shares dropped 10.7% after quarterly earnings released late Thursday fell short of expectations.

Other markets: European stocks ended firmly lower after the U.S. jobs report (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-becalmed-as-investors-await-us-jobs-report-2016-02-05).

Asian stocks ended mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stocks-mixed-in-run-up-to-lunar-new-year-holiday-2016-02-04) in the run-up to the Lunar New Yeah holiday next week.

Gold scored its

The U.S. dollar edged higher after the jobs report (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-could-hit-115-if-jobs-data-disappoints-analyst-2016-02-05)after reporting one of its worst daily declines in months on Thursday.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2016 14:44 ET (19:44 GMT)

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