Stocks End Week Down

The major averages were sluggish all day, with AIG one of the primary reasons.
By TSC Staff ,

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

in its first quarter

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

quarterly report

, 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

strong numbers

.

Activision

(ATVI) - Get Report

gained 14.2% after sales of

Guitar Hero 3

and

Call of Duty IV

led to robust

fourth-quarter earnings

.

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.

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