Weekend markets: Friday jinx strikes again

Friday again ended badly on Wall Street as a two-day rally petered out, eliminating gains for a third consecutive week.

Negative sentiment was blamed on a ratings downgrade on Greece and troubling profit reports from clothing retailers Gap and Aeropostale.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's credit ratings three notches, citing the scale of the country's challenge in securing solvency.

Gap plunged 17% after it warned raw-materials costs were rising faster than expected and would eat into profits this year. Aeropostale's fiscal first-quarter earnings dropped 64% on weak growth in sales and margins.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 93.28 points, or 0.7%, to 12,512.04. Alcoa led the blue-chip index lower, dropping 2.5%, while JP Morgan Chase declined 2%.

The financial and industrial sectors dragged the S&P 500 index down 0.8% to 1333.27. The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7% to 2803.32, snapping a three-day winning streak.

For the week, the Dow dropped 0.7% and the S&P 500 was 0.3% lower, marking the third consecutive week of declines and longest losing streak for each index since August. The Dow is down 2.3% over the three-week period.

Other markets: Europe falls, Asia mixed
European stocks fell and posted a loss for the week, as Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's credit rating.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1%, to 279.65 and dropped 0.3% for the week.

The UK's FTSE 100 index slipped 0.1%, to 5948.49, the French CAC-40 index sank 0.9% to 3990.85 and Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 1.2%, to 7266.82.

Japanese stocks fell as utilities declined on uncertainty over the future of the power sector. The Nikkei Stock Average finished 0.1% lower at 9607.08.

Indian shares climbed as engineering major Larsen & Toubro jumped for a second straight day after issuing a robust sales forecast. The Sensex rose 1% to 18,326.09.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 4732.19 and Taiwan's Taiex gave up 0.6% to 8837.03. China's Shanghai Composite ended little changed at 2858.46, Korea's Kospi rose 0.8% to 2111.50 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index inched up 0.2% to 23,199.39.

Commodities: Oil stays under $US100, gold tops $US1500
Oil futures ended higher in volatile trading, as buyers re-entered the market and traders remained convinced that long-term crude demand was on the rise.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled up $US1.05, or 1.1%, to $US99.49 a barrel in New York. The more actively traded July contract settled up $US1.17, or 1.2%, to $US100.10 a barrel.

Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled up 97USc, or 0.9%, to $US112.39 a barrel, but the contract fell $US1.44, or 1.3%, for the week.

Gold settled above $US1500 an ounce for the first time in six trading days. The contract for May delivery rose $US16.60, or 1.1%, to settle at $US1508.80 in New York. The thinly traded contract gained $US15.40, or 1%, for the week.

Currencies: Greece downgrading sinks euro
European debt fears returned with a vengeance to sink the euro, which fell near a record low against the Swiss franc. Longstanding speculation about a potential restructuring of Greek debt has driven the euro down by about 5% since the start of the month.

The euro was at $US1.4157 from $US1.4311 late on Thursday. The US dollar traded at ¥81.68 from ¥81.53. The UK pound bought $US1.6249 from $US1.6231.

The dollar changed hands at 0.8791 Swiss franc from 0.8805 franc, while the euro fell to 1.2411 francs, not far from a record low at 1.2398 francs.