US stocks extend losses on falling oil

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Friday as further declines in oil prices continued to weigh on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 119.85 points, or 0.67 percent, to 17,865.34. The S&P 500 shed 19.41 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,096.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 64.07 points, or 1.29 percent, to 4,894.55.

Oil prices retreated further Friday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude tumbling near 3 percent, as data showed that the U.S. rig count increased for the second straight week.

The number of rigs operating in U.S. fields rose by 3 to 328 this week, said oilfield services company Baker Hughes Friday. Last week, the rig count rose by 9 rigs.

On the economic front, the preliminary reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan came in at 94.3 for June, slightly lower than May's final read of 94.7.

Overseas stock markets also declined broadly Friday. European equities suffered big losses amid falling oil prices. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange plunged 2.52 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index tumbled 1.86 percent.

In Asia, Tokyo shares ticked down Friday, weighed by policy meetings of Japanese and U.S. central banks in the next week. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.40 percent to 16,601.36.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.3 percent, and the S&P 500 edged down 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq dipped 1.0 percent. 

source : xinhua