NEW YORK —U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday afternoon as Wall Street closed another month of gains with a whimper after mixed economic reports.
“We’ve had a week of mediocre news for the United States — not a soft patch, not concerning, but certainly not inspiring,” said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Cincinnati.
“We would like to see a quiet summer, where the market marks some time and consolidates some recent gains,” he said of Wall Street’s advance, which for the month put the Dow Jones industrial average ahead 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 index up 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite up 3.8 percent.
After rising 67.8 points Friday, the Dow ended down 208.96 points, or 1.4 percent, at 15,115.57, its steepest drop since mid-April. The selloff accelerated late in the session: About 30 points of the Dow’s 209-point slide came in the last minute, FactSet data show.
Intel Corp. led gains that included just two of the blue-chip index’s 30 components. Intel’s gains came a day after Reuters reported Samsung Electronics had picked an Intel processor to power a new version of one of its tablets.
The S&P 500 index declined 23.67 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,630.74, with health care and energy hardest hit among its 10 industry groups.
Financials performed the best in May, followed by industrials and technology, with investors rotating in and out of sectors in search of bargains.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 35.38 points, or 1 percent, to 3,455.91.
“With interest rates being revalued, stocks are being revalued, too. We haven’t seen the ‘great rotation’ (out of bonds and into stocks), but we are seeing rotation within the stock market itself,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.
The S&P 500 marked its seventh straight monthly advance, its longest monthly winning streak since one ending in September 2009. The Dow industrials recorded its sixth straight monthly gain.
The U.S. dollar on Friday fell to a three-week low against the Japanese yen, with the American currency notching an eighth straight month of gains versus the yen. Expectations of monetary easing moves by the Bank of Japan is expected to result in further softening of Japan’s currency.
