On Monday the Dow dropped 130 points on more European debt concern, this time a Standard and Poor’s downgrade of Italian debt. Weak manufacturing and service sector reports coupled with an increase in new-home sales in April led to a slight delcline in stock prices on Tuesday. The market rebounded slightly on Wednesday, ending a three-day losing streak. On Thursday, stocks once again logged a small gain despite a rise in jobless claims. However, the declining volume as the long Memorial Day weekend approaches makes it difficult to attach any significance to stock movements. Volume plummeted dramatically on Friday with stocks making slight gains to finish off the week with a loss.

The Dow and S&P 500 suffered a fourth consecutive losing week. The S&P 500 (-0.2%) could not quite make it to the positive, while the Russell 2000 (0.9%) managed a gain.

[table id=12 /]