Wall Street ends the week on a negative note

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes eased lower in the last session of the week as falling crude oil prices weighed on energy shares. Furthermore, the political developments in the U.S. hurt the market sentiment, pushing the investors towards safer assets like the yen, gold and U.S. Treasuries rather than stocks.

Both the S&P 500 and NYSE Energy Sector indexes lost more than 1% as crude oil's rally came to an end on Friday with the barrel of West Texas Intermediate losing nearly 3% on the day to settle below the $46 mark. In the meantime, after recording gains for ten straight sessions to close the day at a record high, the tech sector finally cooled down with the S&P 500 Information Technology (SPLRCT) finishing the day 0.17% lower.

“The market is pausing after another stellar run to record high levels, as people take modest profits off the table and cut back on risk just a little bit going into the weekend,” Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas, told Reuters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 31.71 points, or 0.15%, to 21,580.07, the S&P 500 dropped 2 points, or 0.08%, to 2,469.25 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.25 points, or 0.04%, to 6,387.75.

Headlines from the U.S. session:

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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