New York ? Investors preoccupied with inflation extended Wall Street’s decline Friday, selling stocks sharply lower in response to a ballooning U.S. trade deficit. The drop, which came in spite of a bullish sales outlook from Intel Corp., left the market substantially lower for the week.

The trade deficit sapped any momentum the market may have gained from Intel, a Dow Jones industrial, which reported late Thursday that sales for the current quarter would be at the higher end of previous forecasts. That bodes well for the tech sector and the overall economy, but inflation worries dominated Wall Street this week.

Trade deficit reaches yearly record (03-12-05)

After the Dow came within 16 points of 11,000 on Monday, it fell more than 200 points by Friday’s close. For the week, the Dow lost 1.52 percent, the S&P 500 slid 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq fell 1.4 percent.