Stocks sharply fell on Friday as continued speculative trading by retail investors damaged risk sentiment. The S&P 500 lost nearly 2%, erasing all gains for both January and the year, while the Dow fell below the 30,000 mark and the Nasdaq slipped down 2% as major tech names sunk. All three market benchmarks decreased more than 3% for the week, posting their worst week since October.

Shares of heavily shorted stocks pared Thursday's loss and surged on Friday as brokerages allowed for retail investors to continue trading the stock picks popularized on Reddit. GameStop (GME  ) rose over 70%, leaving the week with a massive 400% rally, while shares of other internet favorites like AMC Entertainment (AMC  ) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBY  ) soared higher.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that U.S. personal income increase by 0.6% in December, up from the downwardly revised decline of 1.3% in November. Personal spending, which is the biggest component of U.S. economic activity, decreased by a less-than-expected rate of 0.2% for the month.

The personal saving rates, or savings as a percentage of disposable income, rose for the first time since April in December, increasing to 13.7% from November's 12.9%. The savings rates is still well above the pre-pandemic average of less than 7.5% throughout 2019.

Here's how the market settled to close out the week:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -1.93% or -73.14 points to 3,714.24

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -2.03% or -620.74 points to 29,982.62

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -2.00% or -266.46 points to 13,070.69

For Stocks, Novavax (NVAX  ) shares soared as much as 65% after the biotech reported late Thursday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate was 89.3% effective at preventing infection in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom, signalling that it protects against the new U.K. variant. Conversely, shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ  ) slipped on Friday after the drugmaker found that its one-shot coronavirus vaccine candidate was 66% effective overall.

For Sector Performance, every sector on the S&P 500 sunk into negative territory on Friday, with Energy (XLE  ) leading losses at over 3%. Other losses included Financials (XLF  ), Consumer Staples (XLP  ), Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ), Industrials (XLI  ) and Information Technology (XLK  ) falling over 2%, and Real Estate (XLRE  ), Communication Services (XLC  ) and Materials slipping over 1%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) was little changed on Friday as market participants favored the safe haven greenback amid wild volatility. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against other global currencies, held at relatively unchanged at 90.57. Gold (GLD  ) prices rose on Friday as investors used the bullion as a hedge against this week's market activity and global coronavirus vaccine concerns. Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,851.01 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.5% higher at $1,850.30 per ounce. Crude oil prices ended mixed on Friday as coronavirus demand-impact fears still weighed heavy on the market, while bullish sentiment surrounding a fall in U.S. oil inventories and a cut in Saudi Arabian supply kept losses low. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed 0.63% to $55.88 per barrel in its fourth straight positive week, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) fell 0.27% lower at $52.20 each for its second straight negative week.

For the week ahead, traders will focus on additional stimulus talks in Congress, the January jobs report and quarterly earnings reports from companies like Amazon (AMZN  ) and Alphabet (GOOG  ).