Stocks ending gloomy 3rd quarter on a weak note

Stocks fell Friday, putting the market on track to end its worst quarter since the peak of the financial crisis.The Dow Jones industrial average was down 74 points, or 0.7 percent, at 11,080 at 12:45 p.m. (1645 GMT). The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all lost more than 10 percent this quarter, the first time thats happened since the financial crisis crested at the end of 2008.Markets have been wracked this summer by growing fears about a possible default by Greece and the increasing likelihood of a global recession. Uneven economic data have touched off sudden bouts of buying and selling.Seven of the S&Ps 10 industry groups lost ground Friday. Financial companies fell the most, 2 percent. The three groups that rose are industries that tend to be more resilient to weak economic conditions: utilities, consumer staples and health care.The Standard & Poors 500 index lost 11, or 1 percent, to 1,149. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 25, or 1 percent, to 2,456.The S&P 500 index is down 13 percent since July 1, the start of the third quarter. Thats the biggest quarterly drop since the three months ended Dec. 31, 2008, when global financial markets seized up. Excluding that period, the S&P has not dropped this much in a quarter for nine years.Stocks in France, England and Germany fell on more signs of division between European leaders. Germany and France proposed managing their shared currency through meetings of nations leaders, rather than by a central bureaucracy. The chief of the existing bureaucracy balked at the proposal.Many European leaders and traders appear convinced that Greece will default in the coming weeks or months. Greeces lenders and neighbors are preparing as best they can to prevent that from causing a worldwide financial panic.As a result, traders have reacted strongly to news and rumors out of Europe about how the crisis is being addressed.Markets gyrated wildly this summer in some of the most volatile trading on record. The Dow Jones industrial average swung more than 100 points in more than half of the trading days this quarter.Traders also have made big moves in response to US economic data, which has mostly suggested a slowdown. A recession in the US looks increasingly likely, mainly because of Europes struggles and signs of weakness in developing countries like China that have been driving global economic growth.