Stocks fall as traders worry over weekend

NEW YORK (AP) — A growing belief that the country is headed toward recession gave the stock market its fourth straight week of losses.

The anxiety in the market was obvious today as the major indexes went from modest gains early in the day to another sharp loss. The Dow Jones industrial average had its 10th move of more than 100 points this month.

"We just don't know whether we're going to have a recession," said John Burke, head of Burke Financial Strategies.

Investors began the week on a more confident note after last week's volatility, the worst the market has had since the 2008 financial crisis. The Dow rose nearly 215 points on Monday when Google, Time Warner Cable and Cargill were among companies announcing multibillion-dollar deals.

The market remained relatively calm the next two days. But on Thursday, a stream of bad economic news in the U.S. combined with worries about Europe's debt problems sent the Dow down 419 points.

Today, there was little news to help investors determine their next moves. And some traders did not want to take the chance of holding stocks if bad news came out of Europe over the weekend. So they began selling during the afternoon.

European investors were also cautious — banking stocks fell near two-and-a-half-year lows, dragged down by rumors about banks' potential losses on bonds issued by heavily-indebted governments.