NEW YORK, New York - U.S, stocks had a volatile day on Friday before all the major indices finished in the red.

A poor jobs report for November and lingering concerns about the new Covid variant Omicron held buyers at bay.

"The uncertainty regarding Omicron is high, but coupled with the disappointing jobs number and investors decided to dump in front of the weekend," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial told CNBC Friday.

The Nasdaq Composite was the worst performer with tech stocks taking a beating.

The key index shed 295.85 points or 1.92 percent to 15,085.47.

The Dow Jones which plummeted more than three hundred points earlier in the day following a hit on travel stocks, remarkably rebounded to finish down just 59.71 points or 0.17 percent at 34,580.08.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 38.67 points or 0.84 percent to 4,538.43.

The foreign exchange market was mixed. The euro nudged up to 1.1309 around the New York close Friday. The British pound dropped sharply to 1.3239. The Japanese yen jumped to 112.76. The Swiss franc firmed to 0.9179.

The Canadian dollar softened to 1.2836. The Australian dollar hit a new one-year low, ending in New York sharply lower at 0.7004. The New Zealand dollar dived to 0.6751.

Overseas, equity markets were mixed. The FTSE 100 in London dipped 0.10 percent. The German Dax fell 0.61 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 let go 0.44 percent.

On Asian markets, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was in demand, rising 276.20 points or 1.00 percent to close Friday at 28,029.57.

The Australian All Ordinaries advanced 7.50 points or 0.10 percent to 7,543.60.

China's Shanghai Composite finished up 33.60 points or 0.54 percent at 3,607.43.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was the party pooper, losing 22.24 points or 0.09 percent, to close Friday at 23,766.69.