Stocks Book Worst Week of 2012 Amid Tepid Facebook Debut

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks declined Friday, wrapping up the worst week for the markets in 2012, as Facebook (FB) was only able to muster a slight gain in its public debut and continued eurozone worries weighed on the broad market.

After pricing late Thursday at $38 per share, the social networking giant's stock began trading late Friday morning after a number of delays attributed to communication breakdowns at the Nasdaq. The shares opened at $42.05 and rose as high as $45 before losing steam.

After holding at $40 levels for most of the trading session, the stock retreated in the final half hour of trading, closing at $38.23. According to various press reports, underwriters stepped in to support the stock during a morning swoon down to the $38 per share level. The lack of a significant pop disappointed retail investors following weeks of hype leading to the debut.

Still the stock did break the record for the most number of shares traded on the first day of an IPO, with volume topping 500 million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 73 points, or 0.6%, to close at 12,369. The blue-chip index has dropped for six straight sessions.

The S&P 500 dipped nearly 10 points, or 0.7%, to close at 1295, and the Nasdaq tumbled 35 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 2778.

The Dow finished the week down 3.5%. The S&P 500 declined more than 4%, and the Nasdaq gave up more than 5%.

Breadth within the Dow was negative on Friday with 20 of the index's 30 components finishing lower. Hewlett Packard (HPQ), DuPont (DD), and Chevron (CVX) were the biggest percentage decliners in the index.

Caterpillar (CAT), AT&T (T) and Wal-Mart (WMT) were the biggest gainers among the blue chips.

The weakest sectors were technology, transportation and financials. Nearly three stocks fell for every one rising on the New York Stock Exchange, while the ratio of winners to losers was 1.5-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The European markets were still a source of worry with investor risk appetite spoiled by Spanish banking sector troubles, Greek political turmoil and the soft U.S. economic data from Thursday. London's FTSE fell 1.3% and the DAX in Germany closed lower by 0.6%.

Moody's downgraded a slew of Spanish banks on Thursday citing worries about their exposure to the country's weakening economy and the reduced ability of the government to help them during a crisis.

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