Stocks on Wall Street ended the week lower than they started as the renewed fears of the euro-zone debt crisis overshadowed an encouraging start to the US holiday-shopping season.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 95.28 points, or 0.85%, to 11092.00
Stocks on Wall Street ended the week lower than they started as the renewed fears of the euro-zone debt crisis overshadowed an encouraging start to the US holiday-shopping season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 95.28 points, or 0.85%, to 11092.00, putting it down 1% for the week.
JP Morgan Chase was the measure's worst performer on Friday with a 1.7% drop. DuPont was also weak, off 1.6%, and Bank of America fell 1.4%.
The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.34%, to 2534.56 but managed to eke out a 0.7% gain for the week. The S&P 500 index declined 0.75% and fell 0.9% for the week.
The materials and energy sectors posted the biggest declines on Friday as related commodities fell in a broad move away from risky assets.
Other markets: Europe, Asia down
Spanish shares tumbled, leading a fall in European stock markets, on speculation the Iberian nations would be the next members of the euro zone to seek a bailout.
Both Spain and Portugal have large budget deficits and high unemployment.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4%, to 266.55. Spain's IBEX 35 shed 1.8% to 9547.20, bringing its losses for the year to 20%. In Portugal, the PSI index fell 0.4%, to 2694.65.
London's FTSE 100 shed 0.5%, to 5668.70, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.4%, to 6848.98 and in Paris the CAC-40 index lost 0.8%, to 3728.65.
In Asia, shares in South Korea dropped after the North issued a strongly worded warning about any threat to its sovereignty from a rsponse to its artillery attack that killed four South Koreans. The Kospi ended down 1.3% at 1901.80.
China's markets declined over concerns of further monetary tightening, with the Shanghai Composite declining 0.9%, to 2871.70.
Japan's Nikkei Average dropped 0.4%, to 10,039.56, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.8%, to 2,2877.25, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.1%, to 4598.34.
Commodities: Oil, gold down
Crude-oil futures fell slightly as the dollar higher against other currencies.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery lost 10USc to $US83.76 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange gave up $US1.16, or 1.4%, to settle at $84.94 a barrel.
Gold prices declined as a stronger dollar attracted risk=averse buyers.
The nearby-month contract was down $US10.60 or 0.08% to $US1362.30 an ounce in New York. The most actively traded contract, for December delivery, settled $US10.60 lower at $US1362.40.
Currencies: Dollar up; euro, yen down
The US dollar reached a two-month high against its major rivals as investors reacted to fresh signs of trouble in both the euro zone and the Korean peninsula.
The euro slipped as low as $US1.32 on deepening worries about the area's sovereign-debt crisis. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose above the ¥84 mark for the first time since late September.
The weekend markets closed with the euro at $US1.3248, down from $US1.3355 from late on Thursday. The dollar was at ¥84.10 from ¥83.61, while the euro was at ¥111.43 from ¥111.66.
The UK pound was at $US1.5594 from $US1.5763. The dollar was at 0.9972 Swiss francs from 0.9991.
