Stocks pulled back on Friday, as a mix of weak consumer sentiment data and a decline in UnitedHealth stock added further pressure to what has been a rocky week for Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 363.08 points Friday to 43,813.57
The S&P 500 index shed 33.43 points to 6,084.09
The NASDAQ fell 141.93 points to 19,820.44
UnitedHealth dropped 9% to weigh on the Dow, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the insurer is under investigation by the Justice Department. The decline put the stock on pace for its worst day since March 2020.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 64.7 in January, a decline of 10% and a steeper drop than expected as consumers feared higher inflation ahead. The five-year inflation outlook in the survey was 3.5%, the highest since 1995.
For the week, the S&P 500 is marginally lower, while the Dow has dropped 1.4%, and the NASDAQ has lost 0.2%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained lowering yields to 4.46% from Thursday’s 4.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.
Oil prices backed off $1.49 to $70.99 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold fell $6.20 an ounce to $2,949.0 U.S.
