Stocks Fall Into Puddle of Oil

Updated from 4:22 p.m. EDT

Stocks in the U.S. were buried Friday as anxious investors dealt with a resuming climb in oil and abysmal home-sales numbers while unwinding their positions ahead of a long holiday weekend.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 145.99 points, or 1.16%, to 12,479.64, and the S&P 500 gave up 18.42 points, or 1.32%, at 1375.93. The Nasdaq Composite sank 19.91 points, or 0.81%, to 2444.67.

"This week was not terrific, so I think investors are looking to take money off the table ahead of the three-day weekend," said Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. U.S. markets will be closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day.

"It's sell now and ask questions later," he said.

Earlier in the week, stocks were crushed in a huge two-day selloff as investors were jarred by new highs in oil and gloomy economic forecasts by the Federal Reserve. The major indices attempted a halting recovery on Thursday, but the session saw rather thin trading volume.

In the end, the Dow tanked 3.9% for the week, and the S&P lost 3.5%. The Nasdaq slumped 3.3%.

"We are seeing a little bit of a different dynamic in the market," said Nolte. "We're seeing more volume now on the market declines than on those advancing days, and certainly over the last four months or so, volume had been better on the advancing days."

That shift, he added, is not a good sign.

Still, volume today was anemic ahead of the long weekend, reaching just 1.76 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange and totaling 1.72 billion shares the Nasdaq. Breadth was miserable, with declining issues topping advancers by a 7-to-3 margin on both bourses.