NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (AFP) – Despite the return of US economic growth, Wall Street was in no mood to celebrate as it braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and crucial monthly labor data next week.

''Volatility is clearly on the increase as markets attempt to digest what appear to be contradictory signals on the economy,'' said Brian Bethune and Nigel Gault, economists at IHS Global Insight, in a client note.

After a slight dip the previous week, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 2.6 percent over the week to finish Friday at 9,712.73.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged a sharp 5.1 percent to 2,045.11 over the week, while the broad-market Standard & Poor's index gave back 4.0 percent at 1,036.19.

The major indices on Friday remained stuck in negative territory from the opening bell, a day after the steep rally had snapped four consecutive sessions of losses.

The downtrend followed the market's 14-month high in mid-October, when the blue-chip Dow topped the psychological barrier of 10,000 points.

Though the Dow ended October with its eighth consecutive monthly gain, the other two indices posted their first monthly drop since February.

''We are getting increasingly the sentiment expressed by investors that there are a lot of gains that have been generated this year after a dreadful 2008,'' said Craig Peckham, an analyst with Jefferies, a US securities and investment banking group.

''That led to a fair amount of performance protection. We have not seen a great deal of willingness after this big rally to commit more capital to stocks,'' he said.

Many analysts have pointed out that the market appeared overextended after the Dow rose more than 50 percent since its early March lows.

Spirits were only temporarily lifted after the US government reported Thursday that gross domestic product rose a stronger-than-expected 3.5 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, after a year of contractions.

The news sparked the strongest single-session Dow rally since July, with blue chips up 2.05 percent, but the euphoria quickly faded amid worries about the sustainability of GDP growth once emergency government support is withdrawn, despite a series of better-than-expected company earnings reports.

''Investors are struggling right now with what the next catalyst will be to take stocks higher,'' Peckham said.

''We are going to switch now to a market dominated by corporate earnings, to a trade dominated by central banks,'' he added.

The Federal Reserve's policymaking committee, the Federal Open Market Committee, meets Tuesday and Wednesday. The FOMC is widely expected to keep the Fed's base interest rate target at a historic low of zero to 0.25 percent to help stimulate growth.

All eyes will be fixed on the FOMC rate decision to be announced Wednesday and the accompanying statement, which will be pored over for signals on the direction of monetary policy as the economy emerges from recession that began in December 2007.