Wall Street ended lower Friday following a shortened trading week weighed down by European debt woes and the failure of a US congressional debt reduction committee to meet its goals, dpa reported.
The latest concerns came as Belgium was hit by a credit downgrade, with Standard & Poor's lowering its long-term rating from AA+ to AA and burdening Brussels with a negative outlook.
New York markets saw a shortened trading week and light volume due to the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday and just a half day of trading Friday.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25.61 points, or 0.23 per cent, to hit 11,231.94. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 3.12 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 1,158.67. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 18.57 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 2,441.51.
For the week, the Dow dropped 4.58 per cent, the S&P fell 4.72 per cent and the Nasdaq was down 5.66 per cent.
The US dollar was up against the euro at 75.60 euro cents from 74.93 cents on Wednesday. The dollar edged up against the Japanese currency to 77.73 yen from 77.28 yen.