U.S. Stocks End With Biggest Weekly Decline In Years

U.S. stocks took a beating on Friday and the S&P 500 ended the week with the biggest loss in two-and-a-half years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its biggest weekly decline since Sep 2011, snapping seven weeks of gains. This week's selling action was closely tied the precipitous declines in oil prices, which continued to stoke fears that the global economy is succumbing to deflation. Traders also blamed unwinding of positions at the end of the year for big declines in the market. The S&P 500 closed 32.94 points, or 1.6%, lower at 2,002.39 and lost 3.5% over the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 312.04 points, or 1.8%, to 17,284.30 and recorded a weekly loss of 3.8%. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day with a loss of 54.57 points, or 1.2%, at 4,653.60 and declined 2.7% over the past five days.