Tech, energy firms plummet

Gains by insurers, banks leave market with little change.

Technology and energy companies skidded Friday while banks and insurers recovered some of their recent losses, leaving major U.S. indexes little changed on the day and moderately lower for the week.

Credit monitoring company Equifax plunged after it disclosed a data breach that affects 143 million Americans. Competitors TransUnion and Experian also fell, while data security companies such as Symantec jumped as investors expected they will get more business.

Grocery stores and food companies slumped as Kroger said stiff competition forced it to cut prices. Target also said it is lowering prices. Technology companies including Apple, Facebook, Intel and chipmakers weakened.

Hurricane Irma continued to devastate islands in the Caribbean. Irma is expected to hit Florida over the weekend with winds surpassing 130 miles per hour.

Experts think the storms will slow down U.S. economic growth in the third quarter. While that’s likely to be temporary, David Chalupnik, head of equities at Nuveen Asset Management, said the effect on the stock market could linger because it will be hard for investors to tell how much of any individual company’s problems are caused by the weather.

“The next couple of months are going to be pretty cloudy,” Chalupnik said. He said insur-