By Kate Gibson
U.S. stocks on Friday fell sharply to tally a second consecutive week of losses as a record decline in retail sales and a warning of falling mobile-phone sales hammered home the ongoing fallout of the ailing economy.
The market again showed its erratic side in the final hour of trade, briefly turning higher as utilities and consumer staples gained, but ultimately being weighed down by technology.
Finishing near session lows, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined 337.94 points, or 3.8%, to end at 8,497.31, leaving the blue-chip index down 5% for the week.
All but two of the blue-chip index's 30 components closed in the red, with the larger losses tallied by Home Depot Inc. (HD), down 7.6%, semiconductor giant Intel Corp. (INTC), off 7.7%, and JP Morgan Chase (JPM), off 7.3%.
Citigroup Inc. (C) shares gained nearly 1% amid reports the bank is expected to slash at least 10,000 jobs across the globe. .
General Motors Corp. (GM) shares climbed 2%, amid debate over whether the government should step in and prevent the country's biggest automaker from possible bankruptcy.
One equity manager questioned GM's viability, regardless of whether federal funds come into play.
"Even if they are given some capital, it's a band aid. The Japanese and the Germans have much better business models and products. The free market should determine who makes the best cars, and the consumers should determine who survives," said Harry Rady, CEO of Rady Asset Management.
Some of the workers impacted by the decline of the U.S. auto industry would be absorbed by foreign automakers with domestic plants, said Rady.
The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 38 points, or 4.2%, to 873.29, leaving it down 6.2% from last Friday's close.
Consumer discretionary, financials and energy fronted losses among the broader market index's 10 industry groups.
Oil futures declined nearly 7% for the week, with crude for December delivery losing $1.2 to close at $57.04 a barrel. .
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) lost 79.85 points, or 5%, to 1,516.85, with the technology-heavy index slammed after Nokia (NOK) warned cell-phone sales across the industry will fall next year , and Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) said it would shed as many as 6,000 workers, or up to 18% of its workforce. .
Shares of Sun rose 1%. .
The Nasdaq Composite index shed 7.9% for the week.
Volume neared 1.5 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, and decliners outpaced advancers 4 to 1. Nearly 978 million shares traded on the Nasdaq, with declining issues topping those advancing, also by a roughly 4-to-1 ratio.
Retail woes
The Commerce Department estimated U.S. retail sales fell a record 2.8% last month, worse than the 2.3% expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. .
Illustrating the government report were results from retailers including J.C. Penney (JCP) and Nordstrom Inc. (JWN).
"The biggest hit starts with everything that's big," said Richard Hastings, consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities.
"People have been cutting back first on the biggest ticket, which was houses. Then it spread to automobiles in a very nasty way, and is now spreading into consumer electronics [and] appliances." Listen to Hastings.
Separately, the Labor Department reported import prices fell 4.7% in October as petroleum prices dropped. .
In a speech Friday before the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said central banks around the world are ready to take additional actions to restore financial market stability. .
U.S. consumer sentiment edged up in early November, but remained quite low, according to a report on the University of Michigan/Reuters index. .
Freddie Mac (FRE), already a penny stock, reported a $25 billion third-quarter loss.
Overseas, Italy and Hong Kong fell into recession, though France narrowly escaped that distinction as its economy edged up 0.1% in the third quarter.
The Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% in Tokyo, .
The FTSE 100 rose 1.5% in London. .
U.S. stocks surged Thursday after initially falling below Oct. 10 lows. After the lows were reached, there was a wave of buying across the board that was led by oil producers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 552 points, the Nasdaq Composite rose 97 points and the S&P 500 rose 58 points. Time to go fishing?
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2008 16:46 ET (21:46 GMT)

Publié le 14 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones