Thursday

A wave in late buying couldn't quite bring the stock market back from this morning's descent. Major averages were hurt by investors' worries about the U.S. jobs picture and sovereign debt in Europe. However, we were lucky that because of the afternoon climb, they ended up only modestly lower than yesterday's close. With one trading session to go in February, the Dow is now up 2.5% for the month. In other markets, the dollar fell, while the euro gained slightly. DJIA -53.13, Nasdaq -1.68, S&P 500 -2.30.