Stocks closed modestly lower Friday after recouping much of a steep loss from earlier in the day.

News that a former adviser to the White House pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and would cooperate with the probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election initially sent the market stumbling, but investors were encouraged after Senate Republicans signaled they had enough votes to push forward on a tax overhaul bill.

On Friday:

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,642.22.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 40.76 points, or 0.2 percent, to 24,231.59.

The Nasdaq composite lost 26.39 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,847.59.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 7.12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,537.02.

For the week:

The S&P 500 rose 39.80 points, or 1.5 percent.

The Dow added 673.60 points, or 2.9 percent.

The Nasdaq fell 41.57 points, or 0.6 percent.

The Russell 2000 gained 17.86 points, or 1.2 percent.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 403.39 points, or 18 percent.

The Dow is up 4,468.99 points, or 22.6 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 1,464.47 points, or 27.2 percent.

The Russell 2000 is up 179.89 points, or 13.3 percent.