Stocks End Week Down
Updated from 3:46 p.m. EDT
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) - Get Report
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
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) - Get Report
, 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) - Get Report
, whose shares jumped 5.9% to $5.07 after the consumer-electronics seller said it would open its books to potential buyer
Blockbuster
( BBI) and the video rental chain's largest shareholder, billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
On the technology side,
Nvidia
(NVDA) - Get Report
gained 2.6% a day after its
, which was followed by a Stifel Nicolaus upgrade.
Priceline.com
(PCLN)
was even more impressive, adding 12% to $138.63 in the wake of its
.
Activision
(ATVI) - Get Report
gained 14.2% after sales of
Guitar Hero 3
and
Call of Duty IV
led to robust
.
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%.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.