NEW YORK — Stocks slid Friday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 relinquishing its 2011 gain, as investors closed the books on a volatile year largely driven by Europe’s uncertain efforts to stem its debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended the year up 5.5 percent, its second consecutive yearly rise. What had been a slight gain for 2011 vanished in the final moments of trade for the S&P 500, which finished a fraction below its 2010 close. The Nasdaq composite finished 2011 down 1.8 percent for its first annual loss since 2008.
“As we end the year, we are pretty much right where we started,” said Chris Hobart, chief executive of Hobart Financial Group in Charlotte, N.C.
“This is a process that is going to have to be worked out over time, and unfortunately we’ve seen a relatively small country like Greece have their issues, then trickle through Italy, and now come to life in Spain,” Hobart said of Europe’s regional debt trouble.
The Dow fell 69.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,217.56. Its best performer of the day happened to be its worst performer for the year, with Bank of America Corp. up 1.8 percent on the day and down 58 percent for 2011.
Conversely, McDonald’s lost 0.5 percent during the session but was the best-performing blue chip for 2011, up almost 31 percent.
The S&P 500 fell 5.42 points to 1,257.60, with consumer staples the greatest laggard and telecommunications faring best among its 10 industry groups.
Defensive sectors fared best for 2011, with utilities, consumer staples and health care leading sector gains for the year, while financial firms, natural-resource companies and industrials were hit hardest.
Leading the S&P’s gainers, shares of MetroPCS Communications climbed 5.3 percent after JPMorgan Chase said the pay-as-you-go carrier could be targeted for acquisition by bigger competitors AT&T or T-Mobile USA.
The Nasdaq composite lost 8.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,605.15.
