Investing.com -- U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday extending losses from earlier in the week, as a massive sell-off in the retail sector and crashing oil prices led to the largest weekly decline among the major indices in nearly three months.
A host of prominent retail companies including: Nordstrom Inc (N:JWN), JC Penney Company Inc Holding (N:JCP), Fossil Group Inc (O:FOSL) and Macy`s Inc (N:M) all fell considerably in Friday's session after lowering their full-year outlooks this week. It came as U.S. retail sales in October ticked up by only 0.1%, two-tenths below consensus estimates, ahead of the Holiday shopping season.
Investors also digested hawkish comments from Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fischer on Thursday evening on rebounding inflation in 2016, which provided further indications that the U.S. central bank could raise short-term interest rates next month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Composite index each fell by more than 1% on Friday, capping a tumultuous week for U.S. equities. The Dow lost 202.83 or 1.16% to close Friday's session at 17,245.24, while the S&P 500 dropped 22.93 or 1.12% to end the week at 2,023.04. On the S&P 500, nine of 10 sectors closed in the red, as stocks in the Consumer Services and Technology industries lagged. With the considerable losses, the Dow and the S&P 500 both saw six-week winning streaks come to an end.
The NASDAQ Composite index also dipped more than 1% on Friday in spite of strong gains among biotech stocks. As a result, the NASDAQ slipped below the symbolic 5,000 level for the first time in three weeks, closing at 4,928.88, down 77.20 or 1.54% for the day.
The top performer on the Dow was EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (N:DD), which gained 0.96 or 1.44% to 67.07. Stocks in DuPont (N:DD) have surged by more than 25% over the last three months after the multinational chemical company fended off a takeover attempt by activist investor Nelson Peltz earlier in the spring. The worst performer was Cisco Systems Inc (O:CSCO) after the Silicon Valley-based networking equipment company offered weak forward guidance amid poor Asian sales outside of China due to currency headwinds. Shares in Cisco Systems (O:CSCO) plunged 1.71 or 6.13% to 26.13.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Mylan (O:MYL), which jumped 5.56 or 12.87% to 48.76, after reports surfaced that Perrigo rejected Netherlands' pharmaceutical company's $26 billion hostile takeover bid on Friday. The worst performer was Jd.Com Inc Adr (O:JD), which fell 2.04 or 7.09% to 26.74. Mylan was also the top performer on the S&P 500, just above Airgas Inc (N:ARG) which soared 7.17 or 7.58% to 101.76. Over the last year, shares in the Gas, Welding and Safety Supply company are still down by more than 15%.
Fossil ended Friday's session as the worst performer, plunging 18.62 or 36.50% to 32.39. Top retailers Fossil, Nordstrom (N:JWN), Kohl`s Corporation (N:KSS) and Ross Stores Inc (O:ROST) were all among the worst performers of the session.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,901 to 1,182 margin.