U.S. stocks decline for the week on European fears

U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, logging a weekly decline amid investors' concerns about the European debt crisis despite a slightly positive U.S. unemployment rate in October. A meeting of the Group of 20 leaders ended Friday with little progress made on helping resolve the European sovereign debt crisis. On the economic front this week, there were slightly positive data from the jobs market, but some of them still disappointed investors who had hoped for the better. Automatic Data Processing reported on Wednesday that 110,000 jobs were added to the private sector in October, showing that the situation of private sector employment has improved. The Labor Department said on Friday that the country added 80, 000 jobs in October while the unemployment rate dropped slightly, declining to 9.0 percent from 9.1 percent the previous month. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will hold monetary policy steady with no additional measures after a two-day monetary policy meeting. The decision was in line with the markets' expectation, and the Fed's move also helped ease concerns about the U.S. dollar's decline if new easing policy was launched. "We maintained our neutral allocation as a result of lingering European sovereign debt concerns," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist of S&P Capital IQ. He said S&P Capital IQ believed the eurozone situation, which has remained unsettling and ephemeral, has reignited global risk aversion. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 61.23 points, or 0.51 percent, to 11,983.24. For this week, the index declined 2.03 percent and for 2011, the Dow still gained 3.5 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 7.92 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,253.23, losing 2.48 percent for the week and 0.35 percent for 2011. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 11.82 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,686.15, cutting 1.86 percent for the week but gaining 1.25 percent for the year. The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies in late New York trading on Friday on euro zone fears. On the energy sector, U.S. crude oil edged up on Friday, posting a second straight weekly gain amid the European debt drama. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 19 cents, or 0.20 percent to settle at 94.26 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, registering a weekly increase of 94 cents, or 1 percent. In London, Brent crude for December delivery also gained and last traded around 112 dollars a barrel after volatile trading, also on the track to a second consecutive weekly gain.