Stocks: Monday’s review

European stock markets closed in observance of Easter Monday.

U.S. stocks fell, dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower following its worst week of 2012, after employers added fewer jobs than forecast in March.

Equities slumped last week after the Federal Reserve signaled it will refrain from further monetary stimulus and concern about Europe intensified. The U.S. Labor Department said April 6 that employers added 120,000 jobs, the fewest in five months and less than the median economist forecast of 205,000. The amount had exceeded 200,000 for three straight months.

Dow   12,929.59     -130.55        -1.00%, Nasdaq       3,047.08       -33.42 -1.08%, S&P 500    1,382.20       -15.88 -1.14%

Bank of America (ВАС) lost 3.3 percent to $8.93, the biggest retreat in the Dow. Citigroup erased 2.4 percent to $33.97.

Alcoa (АА) slipped 0.3 percent to $9.60. The largest U.S. aluminum producer is scheduled to disclose first-quarter results after the close of trading tomorrow, the first company in the Dow average to report.

AOL soared the most since at least November 2009, adding 43 percent to $26.40. The Internet company, under shareholder pressure to make strategic changes as revenue declines, agreed to sell and license more than 800 patents to Microsoft in a deal worth $1.06 billion. Microsoft fell 1.3 percent to $31.10.

Apple Inc. advanced 0.4 percent to $636.23. The world’s most valuable company erased an earlier decline of as much as 1.3 percent. The Cupertino, California-based company was cut to neutral from buy by BTIG LLC, which said investors should “take a breather” on expected strength this quarter.