U.S. stocks on Friday declined sharply amid concerns that rising inflation may prevent the Federal Reserve from lowering the interest rates which may affect the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 178.1 points to close at 13,339.8.

Dow's weekly decline came to 2.1% becoming the worst since the week ending of Nov. 9 when the index dropped 4.1%.

Financials also experienced decline as Alcoa Inc. fell 3.1% and Home Depot Inc. dropped 3.7%.

Citigroup Inc. closed with 1% decline in the wake of its downgrade by Moody's Investors in response to Citi's plan to move about $49 billion in assets from structured investment vehicles onto its balance sheet.

Microsoft Corp. was the only boost to Dow as it gained 0.2%.

Nasdaq Composite index declined as well closing 1.4% down to 2,635.74, recording a weekly decline of 2.6% compared to 6.5% decline in the week ending Nov.9.

S&P 500 Index dropped 1.4% to 1,467.95 closing the week with a total decline of 2.4% less than 3.7% weekly slide it encountered in the second week of November.

Citigroup U.S.