NEW YORK (AP) - News that Spain's economy entered another recession renewed worries about the fragility of Europe's finances Monday and nudged stocks lower. The market ended its first losing month this year.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 5.45 points to close at 1,397.91. For April, it was down 0.8 percent, its first month in the red since November.
The Spanish government said that the country's economy shrank in the first three months of the year, the second straight quarter of contraction.
The worry is that Spain's heft could make it difficult to rescue. Its economy is roughly twice the size of the three other countries that have tapped the European Union for bailout loans added together - Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 14.68 points to close at 13,213.63, narrowly avoiding its first monthly loss since September. The Nasdaq composite fell 22.84 points to 3,046.36. It posted a monthly loss of 1.5 percent.