S&P, Dow fall as oil drop hurts energy; chipmakers boost Nasdaq

Caoline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and the Dow eased on Friday after a steep drop in oil prices pressured energy stocks, but losses were limited by gains in chipmakers and retail stocks.

U.S. crude CLc1 tumbled 4 percent to settle at $67.88 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they were ready to ease supply curbs that have pushed prices to their highest since 2014.

The S&P energy index .SPNY slid 2.6 percent and registered its biggest daily percentage drop since early February, while Chevron (CVX.N) dropped 3.5 percent and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) fell 1.9 percent and were among the biggest drags on the Dow and S&P 500.

“It’s been a very rough week for oil, and that has weighed” on energy names, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. At the same time, the continued pullback in yields has pressured financials, he said.

The S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK fell 0.4 percent after U.S. Treasury yields hit their lowest in three weeks.

Stock markets this week also have been roiled by trade tensions with China, a U.S. threat of imposing tariffs on imported cars and uncertainty over a U.S.-North Korea summit.

President Donald Trump said on Friday the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could still take place on June 12 as originally planned, a day after canceling it.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 58.67 points, or 0.24 percent, to 24,753.09, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 6.43 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,721.33 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 9.43 points, or 0.13 percent, to 7,433.85.

For the week, the Dow was up 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.1 percent.

The Nasdaq .IXIC was boosted by chipmakers, including Broadcom (AVGO.O), which rose 2.7 percent. Intel (INTC.O) climbed 1.3 percent.

A 20.2 percent surge in shares of Foot Locker (FL.N) boosted the S&P consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD, which rose 0.2 percent, after the company reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and helped shares edge higher in Nike (NKE.N), which has a partnership with the footwear retailer.

The S&P retail index .SPXRT rose 0.2 percent.

Trading volume was lighter than usual ahead of the long weekend, with markets shut on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

About 5.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges. That compares with the 6.6 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.25-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 104 new highs and 36 new lows.