Stocks continued to slid during Friday's session as growing tensions between the U.S. and China casted a dark cloud over future geopolitical relations. Wall Street was further impacted by some major corporate earnings that fell short of consensus expectations, resulting in all three major benchmarks declining throughout the trading session. Moreover, all three indices ended the week with declines: the Nasdaq led with a 1.33% drop, the S&P 500 dropped 0.28% and the Dow fell 0.26%.
On Friday, China ordered the United States to close its consulate located in the city of Chengdu. This was a responsive move similar to the U.S. ordering Beijing to close its consulate in Houston, Texas earlier this week. The two nations have been at odds since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here's how major market benchmarks closed out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, Intel
For Sector Performance, almost every industry, excluding Consumer Discretionary +0.33%, sank during Friday's sell-off. The negative performance decline were as follows: Information Technology -1.19%, Health Care -1.11%, Industrials -0.80%, Utilities -0.63%, Energy -0.59%, Real Estate -0.40%, Financials -0.37%, Materials -0.32%, Consumer Staples -0.14% and Communication Servicer -0.06%.
For Commodities and Currency, crude oil futures ticked slightly higher, with gains being held back by increased tensions between U.S. and China. Brent Crude
For the week ahead, investors will focus on coronavirus headlines, U.S. stimulus package progress, and more quarterly earnings including Facebook and Google.