Twitter’s plunge leads stocks lower

Technology companies led a slide in U.S. stocks Friday, adding to the market’s losses from another techdriven sell-off a day earlier.

Twitter plunged more than 20% after the social media network said its monthly users declined.

Although tech stocks made up much of the market’s drop, smaller-company stocks fell more than the rest of the market. The losses outweighed gains in banks and phone companies.

Even so, the Standard & Poor’s 500, the market’s benchmark index, had its fourth weekly gain in a row.

The S&P 500 slid 18.62 points, or 0.7%, to 2,818.82. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 76.01 points, or 0.3%, to 25,451.06. The techheavy Nasdaq composite index sank 114.77 points, or 1.5%, to 7,737.42. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dropped 32.02 points, or 1.9%, to 1,663.34.

This was the busiest stretch of the second-quarter earnings season, with roughly a third of companies in the S&P 500 reporting results. Of the 49% of the companies in the S&P 500 that had issued quarterly results as of Friday, some 65% reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ forecasts, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

That has reinforced the underlying perception in the financial markets that the U.S. economy is performing strongly and that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again next week.

For the second straight day a social media company led a steep decline in the tech sector. Twitter plummeted 20.5% to $34.12

Snap, the company behind the Snapchat messaging app, slid 4% to $12.83. Facebook slipped 0.8% to $174.89, adding to its huge loss from the day before.

Intel sank 8.6% to $47.68 after the chipmaker’s quarterly report left analysts concerned about its profit margins and key businesses.

Computer hard drive companies also fell. Western Digital sank 7.7% to $71.13, and Seagate Technology slid 5% to $54.69.

CBS dropped 6.1% to $54.01, its biggest one-day loss in more than six years, after reports of sexual misconduct allegations against its chief executive, Les Moonves.

Expedia Group surged 9.5% to $137.79 after the online travel portal’s quarterly earnings topped forecasts.

Chipotle Mexican Grill climbed 5.7% to $472.30 after the restaurant chain said sales online and at established stores improved in its latest quarter.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 92 cents, or 1.3%, to $68.69 a barrel. Brent crude fell 25 cents to $74.29. Heating oil slid 2 cents to $2.16 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline was little changed at $2.16 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents to $2.82 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Bond prices rose, sending yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.96% from 2.97%.

The dollar slipped to 111 yen from 111.23 yen. The euro rose to $1.1656 from $1.1645.