Stocks in U.S. Can't Dig Out of the Red

Updated from 3:29 p.m. EDT

Stocks on Wall Street finished another day of teeth-grinding volatility with losses Friday, as forced liquidations continued and fear of a global economic slowdown intensified.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, off more than 500 points earlier, finished down 312.30 points, or 3.6%, at 8378.95, and the S&P 500 gave back 31.34 points, or 3.5%, to 876.77. The Nasdaq tumbled 51.88 points, or 3.2%, to 1552.03.

Taken all together, the past five sessions have not been pretty. For the week, the Dow lost 5.4%, the S&P 500 slipped 6.8% and the Nasdaq dropped 9.3%.

The selling mood was tied to belief in an impending global recession. Larry Adam, chief investment strategist at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, wrote in a research note that he expects 2009 global growth to register at 1.2%, a rate that falls well below the International Monetary Fund's recession benchmark of 3%. He predicted negative growth for the U.S. and Europe in the coming year. "[T]he present environment remains fluid and unprecedented," Adam wrote.

Adam notes that while the risk of systemic failure has declined, waning confidence among consumers, businesses and investors, as well as panic and ongoing deleveraging, will continue to hurt the global economy.

The slowdown's impact on emerging markets was adding to the concern. The IMF was mulling a plan to issue expansive short-term loans to emerging markets, according to a report by Bloomberg. The loans would total as much as five times member countries' required contributions to the fund, the report said.