NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks plunged on Wall Street after the government reported that hiring slowed sharply last month, the latest sign of weakness in the economy.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite closed out their worst weeks of the year.

The poor jobs report confirmed what investors had feared for much of the week: that the U.S. economy was slowing. Investors were already on edge as France and Greece head into elections over the weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 168 points at 13,038 Friday. It was the second-worst weekly decline for the Dow this year.

The S&P slipped 22 points to 1,369, while the Nasdaq fell 68 points to 2,956.

Falling stocks outnumbered rising ones three-to-one. Volume was average at 3.9 billion shares.