Tech drags Wall Street lower; China tension weighs

US stocks fell on Friday, weighed by a more than 4 per cent drop in Oracle shares, while recently battered stocks in the real estate and utility sectors posted the largest gains.

Oracle dropped 4.3 per cent to $39.10 after its adjusted revenue missed analysts' estimates. The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P and the tech sector.

Analysts said that investors were anxious and turned to defensive sectors in stocks as well as US Treasuries after a report that a Chinese Navy warship seized a US underwater drone on Thursday in international waters in the South China Sea.

 

The news about the drone seizure "turned it to a risk-off day," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.

"At a minimum the headline hits you. It's not often you have two world powers getting this frontal."

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.83 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 19,843.41, the S&P 500 lost 3.96 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 2,258.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.69 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 5,437.16.

The Dow rose for its sixth consecutive week but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted slight weekly declines.

Utilities and real estate were the best-performing sectors on the S&P, in a rotation out of recent winning sectors.

US stocks have been on a tear since the November 8 presidential election, with the S&P rising 5.5 per cent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's expected deregulation and infrastructure spending will boost the economy.

However, there are some concerns that the rally may have little support as the policy will take the time to be implemented and likely will change as it makes its way through Congress.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.27-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.18-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 172 new highs and 41 new lows.

About 10.84 billion shares changed hands on the US exchanges, well up from the 7.53 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.