Wall Street ended a painful week with another decline Friday as skittish investors unable to hold on to much optimism about the economy drew little comfort from United States President George W. Bush's stimulus plan.

The day's trading reflected how fractious Wall Street has been in the new year.

Investors pulled back from a big early advance, with the major indexes trading mixed as Bush began to speak.

By the time the president finished announcing a plan for about US$145 billion (euro98.81 billion) worth of tax relief, the indexes were well into negative territory.

"It's disappointed in the size of the economic growth package. Wall Street's showing its displeasure," said Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

"Honestly, I think the institutional investors understand the limits to the government's ability to enact economic change."

Coming after Bush's announcement, Friday's pullback made it clear that the stock market is in for a protracted period of uncertainty and continued declines.

Shrugged off positive signs

Investors have shrugged off all the positive signs they've received in recent days, including assurances last week from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed is ready to act aggressively.

That uncertainty made for a turbulent week on Wall Street.

For the week, the Dow and the Nasdaq composite index lost four per cent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 gave up 5.4 per cent.

On Friday, the Dow, which was up more than 180 points early in the session, fell 59.91, or 0.49 per cent, to close the week at 12,099.30.

The broader S&P 500 index fell 8.06, or 0.60 per cent, to 1,325.19, while the technology-focused Nasdaq dropped 6.88, or 0.29 per cent, to 2,340.02.

- AP