* S&P flat on year, Dow higher, Nasdaq lower * European shares post steepest annual fall in 3 yrs * Bank of America is Dow's worst performer in 2011 * Indexes fall: Dow 0.5 pct, S&P 0.3 pct, Nasdaq 0.2 pct (Updates to afternoon) By Angela Moon NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, the last trading day of a turbulent year,with the broad S&P 500 index on track to end 2011 barely changedfrom 2010's closing level. Efforts by market participants over the past few days topush the broader index into positive territory for the year werenot enough as ongoing uncertainty about the euro zone's debtcrisis and fears of a global recession curbed market sentiment. The S&P was up 0.2 percent for the year. Not since 1970 hasthe index shown such little annual movement in either direction.But the Dow has gained 5.7 percent as investors sought safety inlarge-cap, dividend-paying stocks. The Nasdaq is down 1.6percent. For Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down63.31 points, or 0.52 percent, at 12,223.73. The Standard &Poor's 500 Index was down 4.39 points, or 0.35 percent,at 1,258.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.34points, or 0.20 percent, at 2,608.40. "The other times it (the S&P 500 index) didn't change muchduring the year (such as this year), it performed quite wellduring the next year," said Jason Goepfert, president ofSentimenTrader.com in a report. "Overall, the years after these small-change years did well,especially during the past 50 years." Of those, the next year returned a median gain of 17.8percent, according to Goepfert's data. The maximum loss averagedonly a decline of 1.6 percent versus a maximum gain thataveraged 20.9 percent. He also noted the final session of theyear has not had a great run lately, being positive only 34percent of the time during the past 30 years. Daily volume this week has been running about half of the average, with many traders away for the Christmas and New Year'sholidays. The anemic action amplified moves in both directions. The CBOE VIX volatility index is up about 30 percentfor the year, the first increase since 2008. The S&P climbed 9percent at its peak, and dropped 14.5 percent to its bottom. European shares closed up on Friday but recorded theirbiggest annual drop in three years as debt tensions in the eurozone strained the financial sector and threatened to derail afragile economic recovery. Global markets have been battered this year by the debtcrisis, upheaval in the Middle East, a devastating Japaneseearthquake and tsunami as well as a struggling U.S. economy. Defensive sectors like utilities outperformed growthsectors, underscoring the view that investors were concernedabout the economic outlook. Financials were the weakest group this year, fallingmore than 18 percent, as the concerns about global growth threwinto doubt banks' ability to increase profits. Bank of AmericaCorp was the Dow's worst performer, tumbling 59 percent.JPMorgan Chase & Co slumped 21 percent. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp was the only S&P component todouble in 2011, up 103 percent, followed by another energy name,El Paso Corp, which rose 92 percent. McDonald's Corp advanced 31 percent, the biggestgainer on the Dow. Investors may have become too panic-stricken, some analystssaid. "Most of the Italian debt gets rolled over in the firstquarter ... Once that debt's rolled, if it's rolledsuccessfully, then there isn't any more to talk about thissubject we've beaten to death for over a year now," said KenFisher, chief executive of Fisher Investments. Ford Motor Co shares rose 0.2 percent to $10.70 afterthe automaker said U.S. vehicle sales topped 2 million this yearfor the first time since 2007, implying a 15 percent share inthe second-biggest auto market in the world. Composite volume was 2.28 billion on the New York StockExchange, the Nasdaq and Amex, lighter than normal for midday. Advancers led decliners on the NYSE by about 4 to 3 on theNYSE, while on the Nasdaq, they were about 3 to 2. (Reporting By Angela Moon; additional reporting by DorisFrankel in Chicago; Editing by Kenneth Barry)