Stocks end mostly lower after 4 days of gains

Stock losses accelerated in late afternoon trading Friday as Wall Street snapped a four-day winning streak but still saw weekly gains.

Of the three major benchmarks, only the Nasdaq composite gained. And now only the Nasdaq is in the black for 2015. The S&P 500 had climbed into the black for only the second day of the year Thursday.

Declines were led by the materials and telecom sectors. Tech stocks were one of the few bright spots.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 141 points, or 0.8%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.6%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index bucked the trend and climbed 0.2%.

STOCKS:USA TODAY's live markets blog

Oil prices initially spiked in reaction to news that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah died. But analysts say the king's death is unlikely to change Saudi's high oil-production levels, a key factor in the collapse in oil prices in the past six months.

U.S. benchmark crude gained as much as $1.45 in early trading before pulling back and was trading down 52 cents to $45.80 a barrel.

In corporate news:

• Shares of online file sharing service Box (BOX) surged 65.9% in its first day of trading in a successful IPO debut.

• Shares of UPS (UPS) plunged 9.9% after the delivery company cut its profit forecast for the year. The company said higher expenses derailed fourth-quarter earnings and rising costs would crimp 2015 results.

• General Electric (GE) reported a rise in earnings that beat Wall Street expectations. Shares gained 0.8%

• McDonald's (MCD) sank 1.5% after the fast food chain reported lower profits and sales.

Global stocks jumped as the European Central Bank's pledge to buy 60 billion euros a month in bonds to help hold down interest rates and boost the struggling eurozone economy continued to energize investors.

European markets were surging as France's CAC 40 jumped 1.9% and Germany's DAX index gained 2.1%. Britain's FTSE 100 index was up 0.5%. The euro, which fell on the ECB announcement to its lowest since September 2003, was down to $1.116 from $1.1356.

Europe's ailing economy will get a major dose of stimulus from the ECB's bond-buying program designed to make loans and exports cheaper so companies can hire and expand. The 1.1 trillion euro program was an emphatic signal of the ECB's willingness to do all it can to rejuvenate the economies in the 19-nation euro currency alliance.

In Asia, markets close higher: Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.3%.

Contributing: The Associated Press