A Loss of Confidence

A drop in a consumer sentiment gauge caused investors to doubt the strength of the economic recovery and sent stocks lower Friday. The big event next week: the April jobs report

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April 26, 2002 at 4:00 AM UTC

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After a mostly negative day, things went from bad to worse near the close of trading on Friday. In the last minutes of the sesion, U.S. stocks dove further into negative waters as investors could not shake a disappointing update on April consumer sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended Friday's session down 124.34 points, or 1.24%, to 9,910.72. The Nasdaq Composite posted losses of 49.81 points, or 2.91%, to 1663.89. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index stumbled 15.16 points, or 1.39%, to 1,076.32. For the week, U.S. stocks closed with their biggest weekly losses since September, 2001, with the tech-laden Nasdaq the hardest hit -- off some 2.5%.