Stocks finished lower for the day and week on quadruple witching Friday. The Dow finished the day down 281 points, its third-straight daily loss and second-straight weekly loss. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also finished lower, although all three major indexes pared much steeper gains in the final hour of trading, with the blue-chip index once off by over 500 points at its session lows. Case in point, Wall Street's "fear gauge" -- the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) -- reversed course by the end of the day to drop lower for the day and week as well. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 32,290.46) lost 1.7% for the week, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 3,852.36) and Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC - 10,705.41) posted weekly losses of 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively. 

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 22.62) lost 0.9% for the week.  

OIL RISES NEARLY 5% FOR THE WEEK

Oil prices fell for the second day, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for January delivery dropping $1.82, or 2.4%, to settle at $74.29 a barrel. For the week, however, the commodity added 4.6%. 

Gold prices rose for the day to finish up a volatile week. February-dated gold added $12.40, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,800.20 per ounce, though the front-month contract still fell 0.6% for the week. 

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