Stocks slip anew

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks crept lower early Friday, as investors weighed Dell's profit outlook, AIG's stock buyback plan and a weak dollar at the end of a tough week on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) lost 0.2 percent in the early going, while the broader S&P 500 (Charts) index fell 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq (Charts) composite slipped about 0.3 percent.

Investors are still reacting to Tuesday's battering that sent the Dow down 416 points, its biggest one-day point loss since the day the market reopened after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The decline was sparked by a selloff in the Shanghai market, which spread to a variety of global markets.

After taking a breather Wednesday, stocks declined anewThursday. However, the selloff was modest as investors fought back from a steeper morning swoon.

Declines were even more minimal Friday morning, as the turmoil of the early week continued to ease.

Late Thursday, Dell (Charts) reported lower quarterly earnings that topped estimates on lower quarterly revenue that missed estimates. The company also cautioned that growth and profit margins will be limited over the next few quarters. Shares inched higher Friday morning.

AIG (up $1.54 to $68.95, Charts) reported higher quarterly earnings late Thursday that nonetheless missed analysts' forecasts. The Dow component also said it would buy back $5 billion in stock in 2007 as part of a broader $8 billion stock buyback plan. Shares gained 2 percent Friday.

Also in focus: comments from Fed speakers. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at Stanford University in California later in the morning.

Ahead of that, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole spoke at a business luncheon in Santiago, Chile, saying that the economy was not headed for a recession.

In currency trading, the dollar continued to slide versus the euro and the yen. The yen surged anew as investors continued to close out carry trades, or bets on riskier currencies bought by borrowing in the currencies of countries with low interest rates, like Japan.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery fell 9 cents to $62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices were lower, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.55 percent from 4.54 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Brutal day on Wall Street

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