US stocks finished with mild weekly losses as corporate earnings outlook remained dismal and economic data pointed to a deepening recession.

For the week, Dow was down 63.56 points or 0.74%. S&P fell 15.08 points or 1.7%, while Nasdaq Composite settled with a weekly loss of 34.08 points or 2.17%.

A release by US Commerce Department on Monday showed real gross domestic product shrank at 0.5% at annual pace in the third quarter, matching the previous as well as consensus estimates A separate release by Commerce Department showed consumer spending dropped 0.6% in November. Personal income fell 0.2% in the month against consensus estimates of 0%.Housing market continued to suffer in the month of November. A Commerce Department report on Tuesday showed sales of new homes fell an estimated 2.9% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 407,000, from October's downwardly revised reading of 419,000. This is the lowest reading for new home sales data since January 1991, when it registered an annual pace of 401,000. Separately, National Association of Realtors said existing home sales declined by 8.6% to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.49 million units from October's downwardly revised reading of 4.91 million. Job market too remained shaky. A release by Department of Labor on Wednesday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits rose by 30,000 to 586,000 in the week ending Dec.30, a level last seen in 1982. Additionally, Commerce Department said orders for durable goods fell 1% in November.

Thanks to lower gasoline prices, the Reuters/University of Michigan's December final consumer sentiment index rose to 60.1 from November's final reading of 55.3.

Credit Suisse and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of troubled automaker General Motor's (NYSE: GM) debt, on concerns a government bailout would wipe out shareholder's equity. Standard & Poor’s and Moody's also lowered credit rating of Ford Co. (NYSE: F).

Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM), Japan's largest automaker, on Monday warned that it will post an operating loss this year. The auto giant will be losing money in its core business for the first time in its 70 years history as global economic downturn and a dramatic strengthening of yen severely impacted its performance in overseas market.

The largest US drugstore chain by store count, Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG), said on Monday its first quarter net income dropped 10.4% to $408 million or 41 cents a share, from $456 million or 46 cents per share in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Quarterly sales jumped 6.6% to a record $14.9 billion.

Late on Tuesday, DRAM memory chip maker Micron Technology (NYSE:MU)  announced a wider first quarter net loss of $706 million, or 91 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $262 million, or 34 cents a share in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue decreased to $1.4 billion from $1.5 billion last year.