NEW YORK — A turbulent week of trading ended Friday with U.S. stocks finishing lower for the third time in five days.
The decline followed two days of big gains and nudged major indexes lower for the year.
A slide in oil prices deepened, stoking concerns about global economic growth. Energy stocks tumbled, extending their losses for the year.
Investors also were discouraged by weak U.S. wage growth in December, despite another strong increase in hiring.
“We finally got the jobs growing,” said Erik Davidson, deputy chief investment officer of Wells Fargo Private Bank. “Now people are looking through that at the actual wage growth numbers, and they want to see improvement on wages, which obviously would spur demand and consumer confidence.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 17.33 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,044.81. The index is now down 0.7 percent for the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 170.50 points, or about 1 percent, to 17,737.37. The Dow has fallen 0.5 percent this year.
The Nasdaq composite lost 32.12 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,704.07. It’s down 0.7 percent this year.
After a long period of relative calm, stock markets have become more volatile as investors grapple with slowing global growth and slumping oil prices. A gauge of investor anxiety, the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility index, or VIX, rose 3 percent to 17.5 on Friday, up from 12 a month ago.
“It’s going to be a volatile year, but I think if you remain a long-term investor … and you push out this volatility and you focus on the trends, I think (the stock market) is going to have a pretty good year,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners.
A combination of positive U.S. economic news, hopes for stimulus from Europe’s central bank and renewed confidence that the Federal Reserve will keep supporting the economy helped push stocks higher in the middle of the week after a tough start to the year.
But by Friday, the jobs data and a renewed decline in oil prices put traders in a selling mood once again.
