YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks spent all of Friday's session in the red as participants opted to take profits. The stock market closed with a 2.0% loss amid widespread weakness. However, stocks were able to register a weekly gain of 6.2%.

Financials were the best performing sector for the week, advancing 12.2% during that time. Its gains throughout the week made it the focus of sellers' efforts; financials fell 3.5% this session, which made it the worst performing sector of the day.

Banking stocks were some of the hardest hit as the KBW Banking Index shed 3.3%. Weakness in the group intensified after JPMorgan Chase (JPM 27.40, -1.70) chief executive Jamie Dimon stated in a CNBC interview that March has been a little tougher than prior months.

Weakness in large-cap tech caused the Nasdaq Composite to underperform its counterparts. Intel (INTC 15.42, -0.40) failed to find support after announcing it will issue a $1 billion common stock offering. Given the stock's 25% bounce in the last month, the offering will allow the company to raise the $1 billion by issuing fewer shares. The issue will still prove dilutive to existing shareholders, though.

IBM (IBM 94.15, -4.63) also traded with marked weakness. Its downturn came as investors became fretful that the company's technological and business consulting service could be hurt by dour economic conditions. That concern stemmed from news that Accenture (ACN 27.66, -4.30) lowered its outlook for the full year.

The broad selling effort was carried into commodities trading. May crude oil spent the entire pit session in the red, closing 3.6% lower at $52.38 per barrel. April gold finished the session at $923.20 per ounce, down 1.8%, while silver finished 2.6% lower at $13.26 per ounce.

Despite the broad weakness, there were some advancers. Shares of General Motors (GM 3.62, +0.21) logged a gain, though they were knocked from session highs in the wake of reports indicating the company is offering union members $10 billion in preferred stock at a 9% coupon and $10 billion in cash amortized over 20 years. The report came after earlier reports suggested that GM may be unable to hit its March 31 goal to lock in union concessions as part of the company's restructuring plan.

There was only a bit of economic news for participants to digest this session. February personal income declined -0.2%, while spending increased 0.2%. Both were essentially on par with estimates. Real personal consumption expenditures, which is the main component in GDP forecasts, declined 0.2%.

Without any major economic or earnings reports on the docket for Monday, investors will be spending the weekend ruminating over the developments of the past week. Should investors return Monday intent on buying Friday's dip, it could suggest an improved underlying bias is still present. DJ30 -148.38 NASDAQ -41.80 NQ100 -2.3% R2K -3.7% SP400 -2.5% SP500 -16.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 658/2.11 bln/2055 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 720/1.44 bln/2324