Sluggish job creation and an uptick in the nation's unemployment rate sent the markets plunging to a sharply lower close with the Dow diving 274 points to 12,118. Nasdaq plummeted 79 points to 2747.

On the upside

Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW) and Endeavour Silver (NYSE: EXK) stock climbed as silver prices rose.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) awarded scholarships to twenty children of company employees.

A Seeking Alpha contributor noted that Renesola (Nasdaq: SOL) had lower all-in costs than Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE).

On the downside

Splunk (Nasdaq: SPLK) reported better than expected first quarter results in its first financial report as a publicly traded company but investors questioned the software solution's high valuation.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Peter Rhamey downgraded Leap Wireless (Nasdaq: LEAP) citing concerns that the high price of prepaid iPhones will limit customer appeal.

A gain in the nation's unemployment rate weighed down shares of building materials company USG (Nasdaq: USG).

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks plunged 24 points to 737.