Traders Peter Tuchman, right, and Kevin Lodewick on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014. U.S. stocks opened lower Friday as the rout in oil continues and a report indicated that growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, continues to slow. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — A rout in oil prices shook financial markets Friday, pushing stocks to their worst weekly loss in two and a half years.
The stock market fell sharply as investors worried that slumping oil demand is signaling that growth outside of the U.S. is weaker than earlier thought. And while consumers and airlines will benefit from lower fuel prices, energy companies will see their earnings suffer. Some may even go out of business.
“In a nation like the U.S. (as well as) Europe and most of Asia, the benefits of falling oil outweigh the costs,” said Jeff Kleintop, Schwab’s chief global investment strategist. “The concern is that there’s something more to it, given such a sharp decline, that there’s something deeper here.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 33 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,002.33. The index dropped 3.5 percent over the week, its biggest decline since May 2012. U.S. benchmark oil slipped $2.14 Friday, or 3.6 percent, to $57.81 a barrel. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 index fell 2.1 percent, taking their loss for the year to 16.5 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 315.51 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,280.83. The Nasdaq composite dropped 54.57 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,653.60.