Countrywide Financial Corp. was caught in the downwind today as mortgage lender stocks slid. Shares in Countrywide closed at $35.20, down nearly 5 percent from the opening price of $37.20. The sector’s performance mostly reflected continued bad news in the subprime lending market, where delinquencies are rising and some lenders have issued warnings about their performance. New Century Financial Corp. in Irvine led Wall Street’s decline today, with shares losing 60 percent of their value on news that New Century is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Central District of California.