Stocks close lower Friday as oil tops $100; S&P 500 posts a second weekly loss
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.23%, as U.S. oil prices topped $100 a barrel, CNBC and Reuters reported. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq 0.7%, while the Dow rose 0.4%, according to Reuters.
The close: The Dow fell 652.82 points to 52,215.16, the S&P 500 lost 0.52% to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.21% to 25,955.34, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 posted its second straight weekly loss, The Associated Press reported, while the Dow logged its third straight weekly gain, according to Reuters.
What moved: U.S. oil prices topped $100 a barrel amid rising fears that the U.S.-Iran conflict would flare up again, CNBC reported. American Express fell more than 3% after announcing it was cutting about 5% of its global workforce, citing the need to “prepare for AI,” CNBC reported. Technology shares steadied somewhat a day after the Nasdaq’s biggest one-day drop since June, Reuters reported.
Why it matters: Higher oil prices can feed into gasoline and shipping costs for households and businesses. Reuters said concerns had flared over the cost of financing heavy AI investment. “There is still fallout from the questioning of the AI trade,” Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, told Reuters.
What’s next: About one-third of S&P 500 companies report quarterly results next week, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, and investors are also watching a Federal Reserve interest-rate meeting, Reuters reported. Markets are closed for the weekend.