US close: Tech and energy issues drag Wall Street lower

US stocks fell back on Friday on slightly lower than usual trading volumes, following the release of disappointing manufacturing figures and as investors took profits following two days of Fed-inspired gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 131.01 points or 0.71% to 18,261.45 and the S&P 500 was down 12.49 points or 0.57% to 2,164.69, while the Nasdaq Composite retreated 33.78 points or 0.63% to end the session at 5,305.75.

For the week as a whole the S&P 500 gained 1.2%.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures lost $1.59 to $44.48 per barrel on NYMEX on reports that Saudi Arabian officials did not expect any agreement to be reached when producing countries met the following week in Algiers.

In corporate news, Twitter shares surged over 20% following a CNBC report that the company was considering the possibility of a sale.

Endo International rose sharply after appointing Paul V. Campanelli as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Apple slipped on speculation GfK was to publish research pointing to lower sales of iPhone 7s.

Yahoo Inc lost ground after it confirmed that hackers had stolen the personal data from 500m accounts.

Elsewhere, Facebook was also in the red on a report suggesting that big ad buyers are unhappy that it overestimated the average viewing time for video ads on its platform.

Marriott International was weaker after it completed its $13bn acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in a deal that will create the world’s largest hotel company.

From a sector standpoint, the worst performance was seen among the following industrial groups: Non-ferrous metals (-3.19%), Gold mining (-3.01%) and Mining (-2.59%).

On the data front, preliminary figures from Markit showed activity in the US manufacturing sector eased more than expected in September.

Markit’s flash US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.4 from 52 in August, missing expectations for a reading of 51.9. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

This was the weakest improvement in overall business conditions since June, with softer rates of output and new business growth the main factors weighing on the headline PMI in September.

Survey respondents suggested that relatively subdued economic conditions had acted as a brake on new order volumes, while there were also reports that the strong dollar had dampened export sales.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was flat at 1.61%.