Wall Street sinks for fourth straight week

Wall Street ended a fourth week of losses on a down note on Friday as most buyers left the market before the weekend on growing fears of another US recession and destabilization in Europe's financial system.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 172.93 points, or 1.57 percent, to end at 10,817.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 17.12 points, or 1.50 percent, to 1,123.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 38.59 points, or 1.62 percent, to close at 2,341.84.

European shares approached two-year lows, extending the previous session's plunge, on fears that major economies are heading for recession and that policymakers have no answer to the euro zone debt crisis.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 1.7 percent lower at 909.79. MSCI's all-country world stock index was off 1.4 percent, while emerging markets stocks fell 2.6 percent.

The Nikkei stock average fell 2.5 percent for its third straight day of declines, hurt by US recession fears and an earthquake that rattled northeast Japan in late trade, but the benchmark managed to hold above lows marked earlier this month.

The benchmark Nikkei ended at 8,719.24 after dropping as low as 8,707.47 but held above an Aug. 9 low of 8,656. For the week, the Nikkei shed 2.7 percent.