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 The Nasdaq fell 1 percent, while the Nasdaq Biotech Index <.NBI>
tumbled 5.1 percent and retested its low from August, when it
entered bear market territory.
The Dow ended solidly in positive territory, helped by shares of
Nike <NKE.N>, which hit a record high after its profit topped
expectations on strong China growth. The stock, up 8.9 percent at
$125, gave the biggest boost to the Dow and the S&P 500.
The market started the day higher after Federal Reserve Chair Janet
Yellen late Thursday said she and other Fed policymakers do not
expect recent economic and financial market turmoil to significantly
alter the U.S. central bank's policy, easing concerns about the
world's economic health. She said she expects interest rates to be
raised this year.
The declines in the biotech index extended this week's drop to 13
percent, its biggest weekly decline in seven years. On Monday, U.S.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would
announce a plan to stop "price gouging" for specialty drugs,
sparking a drop in the shares.
The S&P 500 health care index <.SPXHC> was down 2.7 percent, leading
the decline in the S&P 500 while the S&P financial index <.SPSY> was
up 1.5 percent.
"Biotechs had been an area that had been doing really well so it
could be as the market has gotten worse that people are selling
stuff that's less painful to sell. Valuations were pretty
stretched," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star
Investment Management Corp. in Chicago.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 113.35 points, or 0.7
percent, to 16,314.67, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 0.9 points, or 0.05
percent, to 1,931.34 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 47.98
points, or 1.01 percent, to 4,686.50.
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Markets have been skittish since last Thursday, when Yellen cited
concerns about slowing global growth as a key reason for holding off
from a much-anticipated rate hike.
For the week, the Dow was down 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 was down 1.4
percent and the Nasdaq was down 2.9 percent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,587 to
1,459, for a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,907
issues fell and 920 advanced for a 2.07-to-1 ratio favoring
decliners.
The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and 17 new lows; the Nasdaq
recorded 41 new highs and 179 new lows.
About 7.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared
with the 7.4 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru, additional
reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar; Editing by Savio D'Souza and James
Dalgleish)
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