NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks slumped Friday, with tech hit the hardest, as investors backed out of equities after Thursday's surge amid rising oil prices and fresh jitters about earnings and economic growth.

Talk that North Korea might be planning a nuclear weapons test added to the jitters.

The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (down 30.10 to 1,932.19, Charts) lost 1.5 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 60.89 to 10,157.71, Charts) lost 0.6 percent, or around 60 points, recovering some after falling more than 140 points in the half hour before the close.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 7.83 to 1,152.12, Charts) index lost around 0.7 percent.

"Today, you had people reacting to the oil prices, the rumor about North Korea and the more than 200-point rally on Thursday," said Vince Farrell, managing director of Scotsman Capital. He said the fact that the Dow was able to cut its losses in half by the close was the one positive on the day.

All three major gauges added more than two percent Thursday, with the Dow seeing its biggest day in more than two years.

But rather than signal a break from the worries that have dragged on the stock market all year -- including the pace of economic growth and rising interest rates -- Thursday was likely just a snap back rally after the recent selling, analysts argued.

As Friday's session indicated, the selling may not be over yet.

"I think we probably need to take it even lower before the correction that we've been seeing is done," said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners.

Heekin said that despite the stronger earnings of late, investors remain wary about the rate of growth this year for both the economy and corporate profits, as well as rising interest rates and the ability of the consumer to hold up amid higher energy prices.

For the week, all three major gauges managed to close modestly higher, due mostly to Thursday's rally, but remain lower for the year.

Next week brings the biggest week of S&P 500 earnings reports, with 161 companies due, including Microsoft (Research) and 7 other Dow components.

A number of potentially influential economic reports are due as well, including reads on consumer confidence, gross domestic product growth and personal income and spending.

"The market is not going to figure out where it wants to go until you have some conviction about where the Fed wants to go in terms of raising interest rates," Farrell added.

"The focus next week will be the earnings and the conference calls," he added. "But I don't think that will trump the uncertainty about the Fed."

Intel (down $0.12 to $23.24, Research) led the list of chip stocks declining, sending the Philadelphia Semiconductor (down 5.37 to 389.35, Charts) index down 1.4 percent. Chips had been among the best performers Thursday.

Google (up $11.59 to $215.81, Research) was a rare standout, rising 5.7 percent in active Nasdaq trade after reporting quarterly results late Thursday that beat forecasts on an earnings and revenue basis, and grew from a year earlier.

But other Internet stocks fell, including eBay (down $1.57 to $31.51, Research), which lost 4.75 percent.

Yahoo! (down $1.00 to $34.87, Research) fell 2.8 percent after CIBC World Markets downgraded it to "sector perform" from "sector outperform," saying its valuation is less attractive than Google and other competitors.

SanDisk (down $2.56 to $25.32, Research) fell 9.2 percent after reporting quarterly revenue late Thursday that was short of estimates. The maker of computer memory cards also reported quarterly earnings that grew from a year earlier and topped estimates, as well as gross profit margins that beat estimates, but investors focused on the negative.

Costco Wholesale (down $3.85 to $40.17, Research) slumped 8.75 percent in active Nasdaq trade after warning that fiscal third and fourth quarter earnings will miss expectations.

Maytag (down $4.21 to $10.89, Research) plunged nearly 28 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade after reporting fiscal-first quarter earnings and sales that fell from a year ago and missed expectations. The appliance maker also warned that fiscal-year 2005 earnings would fall short of estimates, citing the impact of higher energy and steel costs and slower sales.

Oil stocks managed to buck the downward flow, rising along with the commodity. The Philadelphia Oil Services Sector (Charts) index rose 0.5 percent.

In other news, the Nasdaq Stock Market and a group of investors have agreed to buy electronic trading platform Instinet Group from news service Reuters in a deal worth $1.9 billion.

On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange said it will buy electronic-trading firm Archipelago Holdings in a deal that will turn the 212-year old trading institution into a public company and help it compete in an increasingly electronic trading environment.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by nearly 3 to 2 on volume of 1.67 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by more than two to one on volume of 1.84 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery rose $1.19 to settle at $55.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In addition to the persistent worries about growth, Friday's selloff may have also been influenced by a Wall Street Journal online report that said the United States has warned China that North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear weapons test.

However, after the close, a senior U.S. official told Reuters that the U.S. has not seen definitive evidence that North Korea is making such preparations.

Treasury prices lifted, bouncing after a two-session decline, lowering the 10-year note yield to 4.25 percent from 4.30 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar retreated versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold rose $1.20 to settle at $435.60 an ounce.