Financial stocks weaken as U.S. equities swoon By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Financial stocks fell hard with the broader equities market Friday in the face of fresh jitters over European sovereign debt. The European Central Bank confirmed the resignation of Governing Council member Juergen Stark and reports surfaced about Germany readying a contingency plan to safeguard its banks. Adding to the gloom in the financial sector, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America Corp. is mulling plans to lay off as many as 40,000 employees. Shares of Bank of America BAC -2.36% , part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, dropped 2.4%. The other financial components of the blue-chip benchmark also lost ground: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM -3.64% dropped 3.9%, American Express Co. AXP -3.72% fell 3% and Travelers Cos. TRV -2.22% sank 2.5%. Also lower, shares of Citigroup Inc. C -3.61% dropped 4%. The Dow industrials DJIA -2.71% fell 318 points, or 2.8%, to cap off another week of volatility in the equity markets. Steve Gelsi is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.

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