US stocks plunge as oil rout continues

NEW YORK — A rout in oil prices shook financial markets Friday, pushing stocks to their worst weekly loss in two and a half years.

The stock market fell sharply as investors worried that slumping oil demand is signaling that growth outside of the U.S. is weaker than earlier thought. And while consumers and airlines will benefit from lower fuel prices, energy companies will see their earnings suffer. Some may even go out of business.

The Standard &Poor’s 500 index fell 33 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,002.33. The index dropped 3.5 percent over the week, its biggest decline since May 2012. U.S. benchmark oil slipped $2.14 Friday, or 3.6 percent, to $57.81 a barrel. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 index fell 2.1 percent, taking their loss for the year to 16.5 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 315.51 points, or 1.8 percent, to 17,280.83. The Nasdaq composite dropped 54.57 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,653.60.

Pew finds wealth gap widens between whites and minorities

PORTLAND, Ore. — The economic recovery has not been equal among the races, according to a Pew Research Center study released Friday.

The study found that the wealth gap between white households and minorities has widened in recent years.

The wealth of white households was 13 times greater than that of black households in 2013, versus eight times the wealth in 2010. And the wealth of white households was more than 10 times that of Hispanic households, up from nine times the wealth in 2010.

Pew researchers — analyzing data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances— found that the gap between whites and blacks has reached its highest point since 1989. The wealth ratio for whites-to-Hispanics is at a level not seen since 2001.

Net worth is a measure of the difference between the household’s assets and their liabilities. The typical household had a net worth of $81,400 in 2013, according to the Fed’s survey.

3 victims all conscious after shooting outside Oregon school

PORTLAND, Ore. — A shooter wounded two boys and a girl outside an alternative high school Friday in what is believed to be a gang-related attack, Portland police said.

The victims apparently are students at Rosemary Anderson High School, which serves about 190 at-risk students. They all were conscious and breathing when they were taken to the hospital, police Sgt. Pete Simpson said.

The shooting was reported after noon and happened at a street corner outside the school, Simpson said. The assailant fled, and the students ran back to the school for help, he said.

Officers don’t know whether the shooter was alone or with others, but Simpson said preliminary information suggests it’s gang-related. The bureau’s gang unit was deployed in the investigation.

By wire sources