By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday as euro-zone debt worries dampened sentiment ahead of the weekend, and retailers lost ground after a weak profit outlook from Gap.
Shares of large multinationals, which tend to rely heavily on export sales, fell in sync with the euro's slide against the dollar. Shares of manufacturer 3M
The euro lost nearly 1 percent over disagreements on how to handle debt problems in Greece and ahead of a Spanish regional election.
Gap Inc
A jump in oil prices lifted energy shares, helping to limit the day's losses.
The S&P 500 remains roughly within technical support at 1,330 and resistance at 1,340. Some analysts say that suggests the market is lacking clear direction.
"It seems like there's more of a consensus building that there's some potential risk coming on line here," said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management Inc in Bethesda, Maryland, which manages about $14.8 billion.
"The problem really lies in the lack of new positive developments. The economic recovery and macro picture do seem to indicate a more protracted slow economic recovery long term," she said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 75.41 points, or 0.60 percent, at 12,529.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 7.63 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,335.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 14.24 points, or 0.50 percent, at 2,809.07.
In the options market, the predominant activity favored more bearish bets than have been seen over the past month.
Ahead of options expiration at Friday's close, traders had exchanged about 194,000 contracts on the S&P 500 <.SPX> as puts outpaced calls by a ratio of 3.33:1 by 10:43 a.m. EDT, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert. That is higher than the 22-day moving average of 1.67 for the SPX put-to-call ratio.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)
