Amid persistent economic anxiety, the markets closed with a hung jury on Friday, capping off Wall Street's first four-week slump since the darkest days of March. 

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 36.65 points, or 0.45%, to 8146.52, the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 3.55 points, or 0.40%, to 879.13 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 3.48 points, or 0.20%, to 1756.03. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 tumbled 3.02 points, or 0.46%, to 652.09.

Fears about the still-weak U.S. economy were bolstered Friday by a new report that revealed consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in the beginning of July. On top of the weaker-than-expected data, the markets were hurt by another drop in crude oil prices, Chevron's (CVX) profit warning and looming earnings from bank stocks Citigroup (C) next week. 

“Consumer sentiment put a kibosh on everything today. The market has been on wobbly legs all week and I think that number on a Friday only made it easier to continue selling stocks in general,” said Michael James, senior equity trader at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

While stocks ended off their worst levels, Wall Street's third mixed finish of the week left the markets stuck in another weekly decline, the fourth in a row. The markets continues to be haunted by a lack of concrete evidence about the timing and strength of a potential second-half rebound for the U.S. economy.

“There’s still some concerns out there as far as what the economy looks like and how quickly we may or may not come out of this,” said Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates

The Dow was led lower Friday by Chevron and JPMorgan Chase (JPM). On the other hand, the index's biggest percentage winners were American Express (AXP) and 3M (MMM).

The Nasdaq eked out gains as tech stocks like Apple (AAPL) and Yahoo! (YHOO) closed solidly higher. The tech sector benefited from Dell (DELL), which was upgraded by Goldman Sachs to “buy” from “neutral" and added to the bank’s Conviction Buy List. Goldman also upgraded the hardware sector to “attractive” from “neutral” on a “compelling buying opportunity.”

Fears about a delayed or sluggish economic recovery were only reinforced Friday morning by the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. The new report showed sentiment deteriorated more than expected in mid-July, tumbling to a 64.6 reading, down from 70.8 in June.

Wall Street had little reaction to rare positive news out of Detroit, where General Motors escaped from bankruptcy proceedings after just 40 days in court. The process allows the auto maker to emerge at a much faster pace than legal experts expected and with a significantly leaner business model that includes a thinner debt load and fewer brands. 

“That was so last quarter’s news,” said Nolte. “It’s not that big anymore. It’s going to be a shell of its former self. They aren’t going to be driving the economic activity that they used to drive.”

Earnings jitters were reinforced by oil giant Chevron (CVX), which warned its second-quarter results and operating margins will be hurt by the weak economy and a strong dollar. The warning sent shares of the Dow component tumbling and also weighed on rival ExxonMobil (XOM). 

Next week the spotlight will shift to financial earnings as results are expected from JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Underscoring the anxiety, all four of those banks ended in the red Friday amid a 1% decline for the financial sector. 

At the same time, stocks continue to closely track the price of crude oil, which returned to the red Friday following a one-day reprieve. Capping off its steepest weekly plunge since late January, fell 52 cents, or  0.86%, to $59.89 -- its lowest settle since May 19. 

“It’s almost like a never-ending loop. Oil trades down because the economy is slowing and the economy is slowing because oil is trading down,” said Nolte.

Corporate Movers

American International Group (AIG) is asking the White House to get approval to pay previously agreed-on bonuses, including about $235 million to the controversial financial products division, according to The Wall Street Journal. The request leaves the administration in a sticky situation as approval would likely be publicly unpopular but denying the funds could set in motion more staff defections that would be costly to the insurer, which is majority owned by taxpayers.

CIT Group (CIT) lost almost one-fifth of its market cap and plunged to 52-week lows as Bloomberg News reported the commercial lender’s worsening credit quality has made the FDIC unwilling to back its bond sales. The agency is reportedly working to improve CIT Group’s financial position, possibly by raising cash.

Global Markets

European stocks slumped as London's FTSE 100 sank 0.76% to 4127.17, France's CAC 40 tumbled 1.42% to 2983.10 and Germany's DAX lost 2.8% to 4576.31.

Asian markets also ended in the red overnight as Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.04% to 9287.28 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.46% to 17708.42.