Stocks fell for second day Friday after lackluster economic readings offered investors little incentive to put down big bets ahead of a long weekend.Concerns about the economy continued to simmer after readings on manufacturing, consumer confidence and import prices rendered fresh images of a struggling economy. A New York Federal Reserve survey on regional manufacturing indicated that conditions have deteriorated this month, while the preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment for February showed a marked decline from the prior month. A Labor Department's report found that import prices have jumped amid higher oil prices.

Friday's market declines, while not severe, come a day after investors' revealed their skittishness about the economy and sent stocks down more than 1 percent. The pullback, which came after strong gains earlier in the week, followed somewhat downcast remarks about the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.



With stock markets closed Monday for the President's Day holiday amid growing economic concerns, investors appeared uninterested in making any sizable moves.

"The fear factor still sits in the minds of investors," said Bill Schultz, chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates in Pittsburgh. "We just can't get over that hurdle."

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 52.67, or 0.43 percent, to 12,324.31.

Broader stock indicators also lost ground. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.75, or 0.65 percent, to 1,340.11, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 20.80, or 0.89 percent, to 2,311.74.

Government bond prices rose as stocks fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.78 percent from 3.82 percent late Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude oil rose 79 cents to $96.25 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors remain worried that consumers who are uneasy will be reluctant to open their wallets — an alarming prospect as consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity.

Comments from Bernanke on Thursday outlined the concerns. The Fed chief issued a sobering but not entirely unexpected prediction that economic growth in much of 2008 is likely to be "sluggish" before gathering strength later in the year. He told the Senate Banking Committee that further losses were likely at banks from soured mortgages.

Schultz predicts that volatility will remain on Wall Street as investors try to sort through their concerns about the financial sector. The uncertainty lapping at Wall Street is in part due to the opaque nature of subprime mortgage loans. Many of the loans, which are now going bad, were sold off in exotic debt packages whose worth is difficult to determine. The concerns about faltering debt have stoked worries about the solvency of bond insurers and sent some borrowing costs higher, disrupting normally staid parts of the financial sector that help pedal the economy.

In corporate news, Priceline.com Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled amid a 62 percent increase in gross travel bookings. The online travel company jumped $17.44, or 17 percent, to $119.67.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 672.9 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 8.76, or 1.24 percent, to 696.55.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished down 0.03 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.25 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.15 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.75 percent.

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