Wall Street closes week on a weak note as tech extends losses

• Disappointing reports from tech-giants continue to weigh on Wall Street.
• Nasdaq sheds more than 1% for the week.
• Telecom stages a strong recovery.

After starting the day on a mixed note, major equity indexes in the United States came under pressure to close the last day of the week in the red despite the upbeat GDP growth figures.

Intel shares lost nearly 9% after the company’s earnings missed experts’ estimate and the social media giant Twitter erased nearly 20% amid a reduction seen in the number of monthly active users. The S&P 500 Information Technology Index, which came under a heavy pressure on Facebook’s sharp fall on Thursday, extended its losses and closed the day 2% lower.

“These have been absolutely high-flying stocks, white-hot. Any deceleration in performance applies tremendous pressure to the group….It forces the market to take a breather,”  Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors in Florham Park, New Jersey, told Reuters. Among big tech companies, Amazon stood out with a daily gain of nearly 4% after the company  reported better-than-expected profits.

On the other hand, the S&P 500 Telecom Services Index added 1.93% on the day to retrace to retrace the sharp losses it suffered during mid-week.  

Meanwhile, Baker Hughes’ weekly report revealed an increase in the total number of oil rigs on Friday and didn’t allow the WTI to extend its recovery gains. The S&P 500 Energy Index fell 0.5% to close the week on a negative note.

At the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 74.93 points, or 0.29%, at 25,451.33. The S&P 500 dropped 18.45 points, or 0.65%, to 2,818.99 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 115.37 points, or 1.47%, to 7,736.81. For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.57% and 0.61% respectively while Nasdaq lost 1.06%.