Stocks Slip a Bit as Banks Dip

Updated from 4:21 p.m. EDT

Stocks in New York sold off slightly into the close after a mostly positive session, marking the fourth consecutive day of losses, but the major indices were positive for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 14.81 points, or 0.2%, to 8277.32, marking its longest losing streak since March 3, while the S&P 500 lost 1.33 points, or 0.2%, to 887. The Nasdaq Composite gave up 3.24 points, or 0.2%, to 1692.01.

For the week, however, the Dow added 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.7%.

Financials underperformed, with the KBW Bank Index down 1.9%, after the president signed the new restrictions on credit card issuers. Also, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board members approved a special assessment of 5 basis points on banks, totaling $5.6 billion industrywide and reserved the option to assess other charges in the future.

Among financials, Bank of America (BAC Quote) lost 3%, Wells Fargo(WFC Quote) gave up 2.9% and American Express(AXP Quote) dropped 3.1%.

Stocks had pulled back on Thursday as Standard & Poor's warned that the U.K. could lose its AAA credit rating, but investors seemed more at ease as Moody's said it is comfortable with the U.S. triple-A sovereign rating and stocks stayed in positive territory for most of Friday's session.

Of the better performers on the Dow, Kraft(KFT Quote) gained 2.1%, Disney(DIS Quote) added 2%, and McDonald's(MCD Quote) tacked on 2.5%.

Sears Holdings(SHLD Quote) was rising 10.4% after it beat profit estimates. General Motors(GM Quote), on the other hand, was off by 25.5%.