Unemployment Rate Falls Slightly: Acadiana Business Index

Wall Street ends the day mostly lower as the unemployment rate falls slightly. Mark Lasseigne has your stock market report on today's Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 56 points to 12,360.

• The moves came on a day in which data showed U.S. payrolls increased by 200,000 in December, according to the Labor Department, topping expectations. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.5%.

• But investors were focused on the troubles continuing to fester overseas, particularly in Europe. Italy's market fell, dragged down by an 11% fall at UniCredit. The bank's stock has plunged 38% in the past four days. Germany's DAX index dropped 0.6%. Economic data for the region also showed unemployment rising for a seventh-consecutive month, while November factory orders in Germany fell nearly 5%.

• In corporate news, Alcoa slumped 2.1% to lead the Dow decliners after the aluminum producer said it plans to close or curtail about 12% of its global smelting capacity.

• Financial stocks were hit after several analysts cut their outlooks on investment-bank earning estimates. Goldman Sachs lost 1.2%, while Morgan Stanley fell 2.3%. Bank of America was also weak, dropping 2.1%.

• Light, sweet crude closed at $101.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• And gold closed at $1,616 an ounce.