Stocks end week on a slide as crude oil tops $104 a barrel

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks made a swift retreat Friday but managed slight weekly gains as crude oil breached $104 a barrel and the February jobs report underlined worries that earnings growth might not be keeping up with rising energy costs.

"Earnings must improve faster so the average American can deal with the ever-rising cost of living," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended Friday down 88.32 points, or 0.7 percent, at 12,169.88, wiping out part of the prior session's triple-digit gain. Led by a 1.8 percent drop in General Electric shares, 26 of 30 Dow components ended lower.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 9.82 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,321.15,

with industrials and financials the weakest performers among its 10 industry sectors, which all closed lower.

The Nasdaq composite index dropped 14.07 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,784.67.

At their lows of the day, the major indexes lost their grip on weekly gains. But a partial recovery late in the session helped the Dow end up 0.3 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite ended up 0.1 percent. Declining stocks outpaced those advancing by roughly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume cleared 1 billion. Composite volume was nearly 4.6 billion.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude-oil futures for April delivery closed up $2.51, or 2.5 percent, at $104.42 a barrel on worries that violence in Libya and the Middle East might disrupt supply. Those concerns drove up oil 6.7 percent for the week.

The Labor Department reported the addition of 192,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 8.9 percent. Average hourly earnings stayed the same. A separate report released by the Commerce Department found orders to U.S. factories rose 3.1 percent in January, the largest gain since September 2006.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed the most since the start of December as a decline in jobless claims and expansion in the services industries spurred thinking that (Source: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17544599?source=rss)