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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks slumped Friday, amid jitters about earnings and a downgrade of General Motors, although the market managed a gain for the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average (down 84.98 to 10,461.34, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 9.94 to 1,181.20, Charts) index each fell about 0.8 percent.
The Nasdaq composite (Research) slid about 1 percent.
For the week, the Dow gained 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent.
Stocks rallied the first four days of the week as falling oil prices spurred investors back into equities after a tough March. The Dow and S&P 500 have gained for the last four sessions, while the Nasdaq has risen three of the last four sessions.
But the market sputtered Friday, with falling oil prices and merger deals losing out to a wave of negative corporate news.
"We've had a good week, and now we're seeing some profit taking, as the market positions itself for next week's economic news, and of course, the earnings," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co.
While the quarterly earnings period unofficially kicked off on Wednesday with Alcoa, the first big wave of earnings comes next week. Companies due to report include General Electric, Citigroup, Apple Computer, Advanced Micro Devices, Genentech and PepsiCo.
Next week also brings a slew of economic reports, many of which are likely to be market moving.
"Early next week you've got a trade deficit number and retail sales, and those reports could be volatile," said David Briggs, head of equity trading at Federated Investors.
U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 79 cents to settle at $53.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The trading high for an active contract of $58.28 was hit on Monday.
Cars and trucks slump
Among stock movers, General Motors (down $1.03 to $29.50, Research) lost 3.4 percent. Deutsche Bank downgraded the troubled automaker's stock to "sell" from "hold." Separately, in the afternoon, GM announced that it was pulling its advertising from the Los Angeles Times, one of the nation's largest daily papers, due to what it called factual errors and misrepresentations in the paper's coverage.
Ford slipped after warning that fiscal 2005 earnings will miss forecasts due to persistent weakness in the auto sector. The company also forecast that first-quarter earnings will top its previous forecast of 25 cents to 35 cents per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of 36 cents for the quarter.
Weakness in the trucking sector dragged down the Dow Jones transportation average (down 122.30 to 3,596.70, Charts) by 3.3 percent. Of the 20 issues that make up the average, 19 fell.
Trucker USF (down $2.83 to $45.67, Research) warned that first-quarter earnings would miss estimates, due to the slowdown in the auto sector and freight demand. That weighed on Yellow Roadway (down $4.69 to $54.45, Research), its buyout partner as well as competitor CNF (down $3.91 to $42.02, Research).
Several trucking companies have warned recently, sparking fears that the slowing freight demand is an early sign of a broader economic slowdown, stemming from the rise in oil prices.
Oil stocks fell, along with the commodity, sending the Philadelphia Oil Services (Charts) index down 1.9 percent.
American International Group (down $0.85 to $51.91, Research) continued to slide amid ongoing investigations into its accounting practices.
The Dow component lost 1.6 percent.
Accenture (down $1.19 to $23.70, Research) fell 4.8 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade on worries about its gross margins, a key measure of profitability. The consulting and technology service firm reported higher fiscal second-quarter earnings, but gross margins that fell from a year ago.
After the earnings, Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal weight" from "over weight."
Borland Software (down $1.33 to $6.16, Research) tumbled 17.8 percent in active Nasdaq trading after warning that first-quarter earnings won't meet estimates. The maker of software for managing applications cited weaker customer demand and delays in closing deals.
In merger news, Time Warner (up $0.09 to $17.97, Research) -- the parent of CNN/Money -- and Comcast (down $0.22 to $33.06, Research) have reportedly reached a deal to buy bankrupt cable operator Adelphia Communications for about $18 billion in cash and stock. Earlier this week, rival Cablevision (up $0.39 to $28.23, Research) reportedly put together a $16.5 billion deal for Adelphia. (For more on this story, click here.)
Investors seemed to take in stride Alan Greenspan's afternoon speech in Washington. The Federal Reserve Chairman, speaking for the third time this week, addressed issues related to consumer finance and stayed away from hot button topics such as inflation and interest rates.
Market breadth was negative and trading volume was light. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners topped advancers by more than eleven to four on volume of 1.32 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners by more than two to one as 1.51 billion shares traded.
Treasury prices inched higher, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.47 percent from 4.48 percent late Thursday.
In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and yen.
COMEX gold gained 40 cents to settle at $428.80 an ounce.
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