Big stock losses cap a wild week

Major U.S. indexes fell more than 4% for the week as investors fretted over tariffs and interest rates.

The U.S. stock market capped a turbulent week of trading Friday, posting its biggest weekly loss since March as traders fretted over rising trade tensions between the United States and China and signals of slower economic growth.

Friday’s wave of selling erased more than 550 points from the Dow Jones industrial average, bringing the blue-chip index’s three-day loss to more than 1,400. For the week, major U.S. indexes fell more than 4%.

Worries that the testy U.S.-China trade dispute and higher interest rates will slow the economy has made investors uneasy, leading to volatile swings in the market from one day to the next.

On Monday, news that the United States and China had agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war drove stocks sharply higher, adding to strong gains from the week before. The next day, as doubts mounted over the likelihood of a swift resolution to the trade war, stocks sank. On Friday, an early rally faded into a sharp drop.

“Investors just want to sell any upside that they see,” said Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA. “The volatility we’ve seen the last couple of weeks has been pretty extreme in both directions.”

The S&P 500 index slid 62.87 points Friday, or 2.3%, to 2,633.08. It was down 4.6% for the week and has fallen three of the last four weeks.

The Dow fell 558.72 points, or 2.2%, to 24,388.95. The Nasdaq composite slid 219.01 points, or 3%, to 6,969.25. The Russell 2000 index fell 29.32 points, or 2%, to 1,448.09.

The S&P 500 and Dow are in the red for the year again. The Nasdaq is holding on to a modest gain.

Volatility has gripped the market since early October, reflecting investors’ worries that the Federal Reserve might overshoot with its campaign of interest rate increases and hurt U.S. economic growth.

Traders also fear that a prolonged U.S.-China trade war could crimp corporate profits and that tariffs will raise costs for businesses and consumers. Uncertainty over those issues helped drive the market’s sell-off this week.

Traders are also worried about a sharp drop in longterm bond yields as investors plow money into Treasurys, which tends to happen when they expect slower economic growth.

Technology stocks accounted for much of the market’s Friday decline. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices slid 8.6% to $19.46. Fellow chipmaker Broadcom, meanwhile, rose 0.6% to $228.56 after it reported big gains in quarterly earnings and sales and said it would raise its dividend.

Stocks in the healthcare sector, the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 this year, took some of the heaviest losses. Medical device company Cooper sank 12.3% to $243.01.

Utilities, which investors favor when they’re fearful, edged up. PPL Corp. rose 2.8% to $31.09.

Big Lots dived 23.1% to $31 after the discount retailer reported a quarterly loss of $6.6 million. It posted a profit in the year-earlier period.

United Natural Foods tumbled 24.6% to $14.88 after the organic and specialty foods distributor reported results far weaker than investors expected.

Oil prices rose after OPEC countries agreed to reduce global oil production.

Bond prices rose, sending yields down slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.86% from 2.87%.

That weighed on banks. Morgan Stanley shares slid 3% to $41.32.

Gold rose 0.7% to $1,252.60 an ounce. Silver climbed 1.3% to $14.70 an ounce. Copper rose 0.6% to $2.76 a pound.