Stocks Down, Europe Debt | featured news

The worst week for the stock market in two months ended with a whimper in thin trading Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 4.8 percent this week, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 4.7 percent. Both had their worst weeks since Sept. 23.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 200 points just before midday Wednesday after Italy's borrowing costs soared, a sign that Europe's debt crisis had spilled into the third-largest economy in the euro bloc.

World stocks hit a 15-month low on Tuesday and the dollar rose to a nine-month peak as fears over a major banking crisis in Europe mounted.

Stocks began the final quarter of 2011 on Monday the same way they ended the last one, falling amid pessimism over Europe's efforts to contain its sovereign debt problems and fears that a wider economic slowdown ...

Stocks are tumbling as investors worry that Greece won't qualify for a new installment of emergency funds in time to avoid defaulting on its debt.

U.S. stocks plunged Friday, erasing the week's gains, as rising fears about fallout from Europe's debt crisis overshadowed President Barack Obama's plan to revive the U.S. job market.

Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note on Friday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another U.S. recession and destabilization in Europe's financial system.

Stock markets in Asia opened sharply lower Friday amid signs of a possible U.S. recession and renewed worries over the financial health of Europe's banks.

Worry about lack of substantive progress towards a blueprint for tackling the euro zone debt crisis kept investors on edge, traders said. In the United States, consumer inflation rose more than expected in May.

Wall Street tumbled Tuesday, with the Dow down over 200 points, following new worries about rising inflation in Asia and the possibility Ireland might need a bailout.