By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow struggled for direction Friday as investors had to contend with another selloff in big tech, while financials also cut gains ahead of what is expected to be a volatile bout of trading into the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.17%, or 327 points. The S&P 500 slipped 1.78%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.35%.
Tech, meanwhile, took a breather following its strong start to the week, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) falling nearly 2% after unveiling new devices, and new services
Big tech continued to dominate market direction as the sell-off continued to dent some of the biggest names in the sector.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) were down more than 2%, even as the latter received a price upgrade from Wall Street.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded its price target on Facebook to $295 from $285.
Financials gave up their gains but the downside was limited by MetLife (NYSE:MET) and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK).
In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 1% after cutting gains despite Piper Sandler (NYSE:PIPR) lifting its price target on the stock to $515 per share from $480 per share, citing expectations for sharply higher demand for the electric automaker's energy products.
Elsewhere, investors continued to await an update from the Trump administration on whether it will approve Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)'s deal with TikTok.
Friday’s moves come as four major types of futures and options contracts are set to expire, known as "quadruple witching," triggering a sharp bout of volatility as small and large investors alike unwind these positions ahead of the expirations.
Despite the sluggish trade, the broader market remains tentatively on track to snap a two-week losing streak.