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Stocks End Week Down

TSC Staff

Stocks in the U.S. were weak for the entire session and closed lower Friday as traders dealt with another sizable loss at AIG (AIG Quote - Cramer on AIG - Stock Picks) and a continuing advance in crude oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 120.90 points, or 0.9%, to 12,745.88, and the S&P 500 lost 9.40 points, or 0.7%, at 1388.28. The Nasdaq gave back 5.72 points, or 0.2%, at 2445.52.

One of the drags on the Dow was AIG, which fell 8.8% to $40.28. The selloff came a day after the insurer said it lost $7.81 billion in its first quarter because of big writedowns on credit-default swaps and mortgage-related investments.

Also depressing sentiment was oil's extended climb into uncharted territory. Crude was up $2.27 to $125.96 a barrel in New York, its best-ever finish. Earlier, it was as high as $126.25.

AIG wasn't the only key financial company making headlines as the week came to a close. Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks), also part of the Dow, was down 2.8% to $23.63 as investors mulled word that CEO Vikram Pandit is looking at ways to shed as much as $400 billion in noncore assets.

One of the big winners was Circuit City (CC Quote - Cramer on CC - Stock Picks), whose shares jumped 5.9% to $5.07 after the consumer-electronics seller said it would open its books to potential buyer Blockbuster (BBI Quote - Cramer on BBI - Stock Picks) and the video rental chain's largest shareholder, billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

On the technology side, Nvidia (NVDA Quote - Cramer on NVDA - Stock Picks) gained 2.6% a day after its quarterly report, which was followed by a Stifel Nicolaus upgrade. Priceline.com (PCLN Quote - Cramer on PCLN - Stock Picks) was even more impressive, adding 12% to $138.63 in the wake of its strong numbers.

Activision (ATVI Quote - Cramer on ATVI - Stock Picks) gained 14.2% after sales of Guitar Hero 3 and Call of Duty IV led to robust fourth-quarter earnings.

Treasury prices were higher. The 10-year note was up 3/32 in price, yielding 3.77%, and the 30-year bond gained 10/32, yielding 4.52%.

The dollar was weak against most of its competitors, including a drop of more than half a percent against the euro to $1.548.

On the data side, the March U.S. trade deficit shrank to $58.2 billion from $61.7 billion in February, in part because the stumbling greenback made domestic goods cheaper overseas. Analysts expected the deficit to be $61 billion.

Meanwhile, markets overseas tumbled. Tokyo's Nikkei fell 2.1% overnight, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.5%. Europe's major indices weren't much better. London's FTSE lost 1.1%, and the Paris Cac retreated by 1.9%. Frankfurt's Dax was lower by 1%.