Stocks fall, end a record bad week

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks declined for a second day Friday, adding to the massive sell-off the day before and giving the market its worst week in two years.

Investors found little reason to move money into stocks, faced with the growing geopolitical concerns in Israel and Ukraine, as well as banking problems in Europe.

On Friday the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 5.52 points, or 0.29 percent, to 1,925.15. The index fell 2.7 percent this week, its worst weekly performance since June 2012.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 69.93 points, or 0.42 percent, to 16,493.37. That's on top of the 317-point drop the index had on Thursday. The Nasdaq composite fell 17.13 points, or 0.39 percent, to 4,352.64.

Energy and financial stocks were among the biggest decliners. Chevron, the nation's second-largest oil and gas company behind Exxon Mobil, fell $1.34, or 1 percent, to $127.90. While Chevron's earnings were better than analysts had predicted, the company's oil and gas production fell in the quarter. Exxon saw profit leap, but also reported lower production when it released its own results Thursday.

Banking stocks also fell. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs all fell roughly 2 percent each.

On Friday, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association ruled that Argentina had officially defaulted on its bonds for the second time in 13 years, in what the ISDA calls a "credit event." In a "credit event," investors who own credit-default swaps, a type of insurance that protects against a bond issuer defaulting, are activated and the companies that wrote the policies must pay the investors who own them.

In Portugal, the struggling bank Banco Espirito Santo plunged 40 percent. Espirito Santo reported Wednesday a 3.5 billion euro net loss for the second quarter, and there were concerns the bank is insolvent.

The concerns over the Argentinian default and as well as with European banks were the biggest driver of Friday's market decline, said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. market strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

"The market doesn't like anything that could potentially disrupt the credit markets," Golub said, noting that indicators of market volatility jumped on Friday.

Adding to the uncertainty, investors had the violence in Israel and Gaza as well as Ukraine to worry about. A 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Gaza collapsed early Friday. In Ukraine, violence between government and pro-Russian separatists escalated.

Investors did get some good news about the U.S. economy. The Labor Department said that U.S. employers created 209,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent.

Procter & Gamble was among the day's winners. The stock rose $2.33, or 3 percent, to $79.65. The consumer products giant said it earned an adjusted profit of 95 cents a share.