8:45 am - A late bounce Friday pared heavy losses on the stock market for the week

By Peter A. McKay and Rob Curran

A late bounce Friday pared heavy losses on the stock market for the week as bargain hunters came in tohelp General Electric recover some of its losses.GE rose 6% to $7.06, but remained down 17% on the week."People are going to pull their money back," said Frank Beck, chief investment officer at Capital FinancialGroup in Austin, Texas. "Really, how much demand is there for stocks? You can look at all the great fundamentalsin world, but if there's not a demand for the stock, it really doesn't matter. I learned that point blankin the last few months."Friday, a Labor Department report showed nonfarm payrolls declined 651,000 in February and that job lossesin the two previous months were worse than thought. The unemployment rate rose to 8.1%, the highest sinceDecember 1983. Some economists think it could hit 10% by the end of next year.Fears that some iconic companies would have to seek yet more government assistance continue to rise.General Motors fell 41 cents, or 22%, to 1.45, and declined 36% on the week. The auto maker said it stillaims to restructure its business without recourse to bankruptcy courts. The Wall Street Journal had reportedthat GM was weighing a "prepackaged" bankruptcy option.Citigroup tacked on a penny, or 1%, to 1.03, and lost 31% on the week as traders retreated from the equityof a bank that's had three successive rescues from the U.S. government.The Dow closed up 32.50 points at 6626.94, but is off 6.1% on the week.The S&P 500 Index finished up slightly 0.12% to 683.38. The tech-oriented Nasdaq Composite Index slid0.4% at 1294, as Apple fell 4% after analysts at J.P. Morgan cut their estimates for the computer and(Mary Pilon and Geoffrey Rogow contributed to this report.)You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.-0-Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.