D.C. events give stocks wild ride

Wall Street took investors on a turbulent ride Friday as stock indexes veered into a steep slide that knocked 350 points off the Dow Jones industrial average before the market eventually clawed back most of its losses.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 5.36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,642.22. The index still ended the day with its best week since midSeptember. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 40.76 points, or 0.2 percent, to 24,231.59. The Nasdaq composite lost 26.39 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,847.59. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 7.12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,537.02.

The market stumbled after former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and said he would cooperate with the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

That raised concerns among traders that the White House’s legislative agenda, including a tax overhaul under debate in Congress, could be at risk. Those jitters were allayed somewhat by early afternoon, when Senate Republicans signaled they have enough votes to push forward on the tax legislation.

“Once the Senate did announce that they had sufficient votes to move forward, there was a respite and we did come off the lower levels,” said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager for Private Wealth Management at U.S. Bank.

The indexes, which hit record highs earlier this week, had been little changed before Flynn’s plea deal was announced.

“The losses that we saw right when the Flynn information came out — the market just hit an air pocket,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors.

The technology sector, an investor favorite since the beginning of the year, accounted for some of the biggest losses Friday. Qorvo fell $2.37, or 3.1 percent, to $74.21.

Qualcomm shares declined 1.3 percent after Bloomberg News reported that Broadcom, a rival chipmaker, won’t make a new offer for the company until next year. Qualcomm shed 85 cents to $65.49. Broadcom lost $6.38, or 2.3 percent, to $271.56.

Several airlines traded lower as industrial stocks declined.

American Airlines Group fell $1.49, or 3 percent, to $49, while Alaska Air Group gave up $2.26, or 3.3 percent, to $66.91.

Ulta Beauty slid 4.1 percent after the beauty products retailer issued a disappointing forecast for the current quarter that overshadowed solid third-quarter results. The stock dropped $9.13 to $212.58.

A pickup in crude oil priced helped lift energy stocks, giving the sector the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

Oil and gas producer Apache Corp. also posted the big gain among S&P 500 companies, climbing $2.39, or 5.7 percent, to $44.22.

Benchmark U. S. crude New York rose 96 cents, or 1.7 percent, to settle at $58.36 a barrel. Brent, the international standard, added $1.10, or 1.8 percent, to close at $63.73 a barrel.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.36 percent from 2.41 percent late Thursday.

Gold added $ 5.60, or 0.4 percent, to $1,278.80 an ounce. Silver dropped 9 cents to $16.30 an ounce. Copper rose 3 cents to $3.07 a pound.