Stocks Tumble On Concerns Over Spain

U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a Spanish region asked Madrid for financial aid, rekindling fears about Europe’s economic crisis. The Dow fell 120.79 points, or 0.93%, to close at 12,822.57. The Nasdaq dropped 40.60 points, or 1.37%, and closed at its intraday low of 2,925.30. The S&P 500 Index closed down 13.85 points, or 1.01%, at 1,362.66. For the week, the Dow closed up 0.4%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.6%.

Concerns about Spain’s crippling financial problems flared again Friday as even news that the country had been given the final go-ahead for a bank bailout loan of up to €100 billion ($122.9 billion) failed to take the sting out of a further round of bad economic news.

The percentage of jobless in Florida stalled in June, remaining at 8.6 percent for a second straight month. The seasonally adjusted rate for June was unchanged from the May figure and nearly 800,000 Floridians remain jobless, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday.

Dole Food Company Inc. says it is considering a possible sale or spin-off of its packaged foods business as part of its current strategic review of the company.

EU regulators, investigating Google for alleged anti-competitive behavior, want the internet search giant to offer concessions that cover all platforms, including computers, tablets and mobile devices, two people familiar with the issue said on Friday.