Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA
Technology companies led a broad slide for stocks Friday, as the major indexes headed for a feeble ending to an up-and-down week on Wall Street.
Trading has been choppy throughout the week. Investors have received a mixed bag of economic data reflecting how the economy is weathering a spike in COVID-19 cases and how it might continue its recovery in the coming months.
Wall Street is also keeping a close watch on the Federal Reserve. Investors are looking for more information on how it plans to eventually ease support for low interest rates. The central bank meets next week.
The S&P 500 was down 1% as of 2:41 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 196 points, or 0.6%, to 34,562 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 1.1%.
Roughly 80% of the stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 fell and every sector was in the red. The index has been moving back and forth from daily gains to daily losses since Monday and is now on track for a second straight week of losses.
Technology companies were the biggest drag on the market. A mix of communications and industrial companies also fell broadly. Apple fell 1.8% and Facebook dropped 2.8%.
Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.37% from 1.33% late Thursday.
Oil prices fell 0.9% and natural gas prices fell 5%. The weak energy prices weighed down the energy sector. Oilfield services company Schlumberger fell 2.6%.
Much of this week’s economic data pointed to an economy struggling to move forward in the last few months. Inflation remains a concern for businesses, which are dealing with supply chain problems and facing higher costs. Concerns about the highly contagious delta variant also have analysts worried that consumer spending, a key piece of economic growth, could stall.