U.S. stocks ended lower Friday, for the second consecutive week of losses with all three indexes down between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent for the week. In world markets, European stocks ended higher while Asian markets finished mostly lower, as the Shanghai Composite index ended with a 0.6 percent loss. In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts rose 6 percent to an annual rate of 896,000 last month. The Labor Department said productivity-the amount of output per hour of work-accelerated to a 0.9 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan reported preliminary consumer-sentiment reading for August fell to 80.0 from 85.1 in July, which was the highest level since July 2007. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for September delivery rose to $107.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose to $1,373.90. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.72, or 0.2 percent, to 15,081.47. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.49, or 0.3 percent, to 1,655.83. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 3.34, or 0.1 percent, to 3,602.78.
