Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street Friday following a shortened trading session a day after the Thanksgiving holiday that left the market slightly below its record highs.
Technology, health care and industrial stocks accounted for a big slice of the selling. Several big retailers also dragged the market lower as traders watched for signs that Black Friday got off to a strong start. Energy stocks took the heaviest losses as crude oil prices fell sharply. Bond yields rose.
Even with the pullback, the S&P 500 notched its seventh weekly gain in eight weeks. The benchmark index also closed out November with its strongest monthly gain since June.
“You had three solid days, plus the S&P was at an all-time high as of the close on Wednesday,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager with Globalt Investments. “Really, from early October until now, it’s been almost like a ruler straight up.”
The S&P 500 index dropped 12.65 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,140.98. The index hit all-time highs the first three days of the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 112.59 points, or 0.4 percent, to 28,051.41. The Nasdaq slid 39.70 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,665.47. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks gave up 9.60 points, or 0.6 percent, or 1,624.50. Trading volume was lighter than usual with the markets open for only a half-day.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.77 percent from 1.76 percent late Wednesday.
The three major stock indexes have notched multiple record highs in recent weeks. That helped drive their gains in November. The S&P 500 ended the month with a 3.4 percent gain, while the Dow rose 3.7 percent. The Nasdaq, which is weighted heavily with technology stocks, gained 4.5 percent.
The stock market has been grinding mostly higher after shaking off recession fears that put stocks into a skid this summer.
Better-than-expected corporate earnings, solid economic data and interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve helped fuel the market’s fall rally. Investors have also grown more optimistic about the prospects for a trade deal between the U.S. and China.
New U.S. tariffs are set to kick in on many Chinese-made products as of Dec. 15, but negotiators have said they might soon have a preliminary deal that could avert that.
Chipmakers were among the biggest decliners in the technology sector Friday. Lam Research and Qualcomm each fell 1.5 percent.
Energy stocks were the biggest losers as the price of U.S. crude oil slid 5.1 percent. Benchmark crude oil fell $2.94 to settle at $55.17 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped $1.44 to close at $62.43 a barrel.
