NEW YORK (AA) – Falling oil prices and weak macroeconomic data pushed U.S. stocks lower Friday.
The Dow Jones decreased 185 points to end the day at 17,535 points. The S&P 500 fell 17 points to close at 2,046, while the Nasdaq lost 20 points to end the week at 4,718.
It was the third straight weekly decline for the Dow and S&P and a fourth consecutive fall for the Nasdaq.
A rising dollar helped lower demand of crude importing countries. Coupled with OPEC’s announcement that its crude production increased in April, oil prices were lower.
At the closing bell, West Texas Intermediate was down 0.9 percent to trade at $46.29 per barrel, and Brent crude declined 0.6 percent to $47.79.
The producers’ price index rose 0.2 percent in April, compared to the previous month — below expectations of a 0.3 percent increase.
Shares of retail giant Walmart fell around 3 percent and the stock value of oil and gas company, Southwestern Energy Co., lost nearly 5 percent.
