The federal payroll report came in nothing short of glowing today, with non-farm payrolls characterized as surging in December.  Yesterday, it had been hoped that a good jobs report today would put investors' minds at ease with a show of confidence that the U.S. economy was somewhat shielded from the problems overseas, particularly China.  No such luck.  Despite way over forecast data, the markets took their 5th major bath today out of six trading days, making it the worst first week on Wall Street in history and plunging the Dow down again another 167 points.  It seems good, let alone great, news at home is not enough just yet to convince investors that China's problems are not going to reach our shores.  Let's hope that week #2 does not also make history.  Volume was again was very heavy at 8.9 billion.  (Out of town this weekend so no posting tomorrow.)

Markets | Fri Jan 8, 2016 4:56pm EST

Wall Street has worst start to year ever

BY CAROLINE VALETKEVITCH

DJ:  16,346.45  -167.65      NAS: 4,643.63  -45.79       S&P:  1,922.03  -21.06

(Reuters)  U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, ending a volatile week with their worst five-day start to a year ever, as sliding oil prices and lingering worries about the global economy offset upbeat U.S. job growth.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 had their worst five-day starts in history, with the Dow falling 6.2 percent for the week and S&P 500 sliding 6 percent. The Nasdaq was down 7.3 percent this week.

All three indexes saw losses accelerating into the close.

The market had opened higher after data showing U.S. nonfarm payrolls surged in December and the unemployment rate held steady. But that was not enough to keep stocks in positive territory.

Oil prices fell for a fifth day and Brent lost 10 percent for the week, while the S&P energy sector .SPNY also extended this week's slide, ending the day down 1.3 percent.

Fears of a slowdown in China and the global economy spooked investors this week, creating a turbulent start to the trading year.

"The start of the year is very poor, so that's got investors on the defensive," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.

"In the face of weakening global growth ... it's difficult to find reasons to commit money at this point even if one is bullish," he said, adding that he expects stocks to rebound from these oversold conditions next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 167.65 points, or 1.02 percent, to 16,346.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 21.06 points, or 1.08 percent, to 1,922.03 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 45.80 points, or 0.98 percent, to 4,643.63.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX ended up 8.1 percent Friday at 27.01, its highest close since Sept. 28.

All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended with declines.

Gap (GPS.N) sank 14.3 percent to $22.91 after the apparel retailer reported a larger-than-expected drop in December same-store sales, while Container Store (TCS.N) slumped 41.2 percent to $4.22, a day after storage products retailer's fourth-quarter profit forecast missed estimates.

Apple (AAPL.O) shares, however, snapped their three-day losing streak and were up 0.5 percent at $96.96.

Volume was again heavy. About 8.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, well above the 7.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 2,092 to 980, for a 2.13-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 2,018 issues fell and 812 advanced for a 2.49-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 93 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 13 new highs and 312 new lows.