Stocks: Friday’s review

Asian stocks fell as signs of slowing growth in China and Japan and concern that Europe’s debt crisis is worsening.

The Shanghai Composite Index  sank 3.9%. Chinese manufacturing may contract for a second month, according to a survey released Dec. 15 by HSBC and Markit Economics. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.6%.

Japan’s Nikkei  decreased 1.6 percent this week after the Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey showed sentiment among the nation’s largest manufacturers deteriorated more than economists expected.

HSBC dropped 2%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. decreased 3.8%.

Exporters to China declined on concern shipments will fall amid slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Komatsu  sank 7.8%, Fanuc Corp. fell 3.6%.

BHP Billiton Ltd. lost 1.9%.

European stocks fell for a second week as concern lingered that the region’s debt crisis is deepening and the Federal Reserve refrained from taking new action to bolster the world’s largest economy.

The Fed declined to take new action to lower borrowing costs in a statement on Dec. 13, saying the U.S. economy continues to expand even as global growth slows. The central bank repeated a warning at its two previous meetings that the “strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks to the economic outlook.”

Moody’s Investors Service said it will review the ratings of all European Union countries in the first quarter because an EU summit on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 failed to deliver “decisive policy measures” to end the debt crisis.

Company news:

Logica fell 23% after reducing its full-year revenue growth forecast.

Telefonica SA slid 7.7% after Spain’s largest telecommunications company cut its dividend for the first time in a decade.

Old Mutual Plc rallied 7.4%as the third-biggest U.K. insurer said it plans to sell its Nordic unit to Skandia Liv for 2.1 billion pounds to reduce debt and return capital to investors.

BNP Paribas SA and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG fell more than 7% as investors shunned companies with profits most tied to economic growth.

U.S. stocks fell as European leaders struggled to solve the region’s debt crisis and the Federal Reserve refrained from additional stimulus.

Equities rose the last two days of the week as data on jobless claims and manufacturing offset concern Europe’s crisis is escalating.

The S&P rebounded  after Labor Department figures showed initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 366,000 in the week ended Dec. 10, the fewest since May 2008, and two reports showed manufacturing in the New York and Philadelphia regions expanded more than forecast in December.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction and mining- equipment maker, tumbled 9.1%, Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, sank 8.6%.

Intel Corp. slid 7.1% , pacing declines among technology companies.

Research In Motion Ltd.  tumbled 18% percent after delaying the next generation BlackBerry.