U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Friday as investors parsed mixed signals from the February jobs report amid ongoing concerns about contagion in the banking sector from the troubles at Silicon Valley Bank. How stocks traded
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.07%
dropped 345.22 points, or 1.1%, to close at 31,909.64, its fourth straight day of declines for its longest losing streak since December.
The S&P 500
SPX,
-1.45%
fell 56.73 points, or 1.4%, to finish at 3,861.59.
Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-1.76%
sank 199.47 points, or 1.8%, to end at 11,138.89.
For the week, the Dow sank 4.4%, S&P 500 dropped 4.5% and the Nasdaq shed 4.7%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow booked its worst week since June, the S&P 500 saw its biggest weekly percentage decline since September, and the Nasdaq had its biggest percentage slide since November.
What drove markets U.S. stocks slumped amid investor concerns about the banking sector after the closure of Silicon Valley Bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and in the wake of the monthly employment report released Friday. In a sign of investor anxiety, the CBOE Volatility Index
VIX,
+9.69%
was up Friday afternoon at almost 25, after jumping Thursday, according to FactSet data, last check. “Bears came out of hibernation this week after waking up to a warning shot from the banking space,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in emailed comments Friday, pointing to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank was closed Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver, with the bank becoming the first FDIC-backed institution to fail this year. Read: Bank ETFs fall amid concerns over SVB and ‘crack’ in financial system after rate hikes The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF
KRE,
-4.39%
was down more than 4% Friday afternoon, FactSet data show, while shares of Bank of America Corp.
BAC,
-0.88%
c …