Stocks post gains for the third quarter

Stocks posted solid gains for the third quarter, although the ride got bumpy at the end.

Stocks fell five days of the last six, including on Friday, the last trading day of the quarter. But the big indexes are still up 4 percent or more for three months. They're ahead 10 percent or more for the year.

Investors got some more of that iffy economic data on Friday. The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose a half-percent last month, compared with July. That was a big jump - but it was driven by higher gas prices, rather than by spending on clothing, electronics and general merchandise. Consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.84 points to close at 13,437.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.48 points to 1,440.67. The Nasdaq composite index fell 20.37 points to 3,116.23.

Stocks fell in all industry groups in the S&P 500 except utilities. Telecommunications and information technology stocks had the biggest losses.

Investors are still concerned about Spain's financial health. The Bank of Spain released an audit Friday showing that seven of the country's banks failed stress tests. Moody's, the credit rating agency, is also expected to weigh in on Spain's creditworthiness, and there are concerns that the government's rating will be cut to "junk" status.

For the year so far, the Dow is up 10 percent, the S&P 500 up almost 15 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 20 percent.

Bank of America Corp. fell 14 cents, or 1.6 percent for the day, to close at $8.83 after agreeing to pay $2.43 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. jumped 36 cents, or 5 percent, to $7.50 after reporting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday night.

Shoemaker Nike fell $1.09, or 1.1 percent, to $94.91 after saying its first-quarter net income fell 12 percent.