US stocks declined on Friday after US Secretary of State John Kerry outlined Washington\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s case for taking military action against Syria.\n<\/p>\n
In a nationally televised statement Friday afternoon, US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the \u00c5\u201cindiscriminate and inconceivable horror of chemical weapons,\u201d while outlining Washington\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s case against the Syrian government.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cThe only variable that really matters is the possibility of a Syrian intervention. A portion of the volatility we saw this week was certainly related to news flow regarding the Middle East,\u201d Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Investors, said ahead of Kerry\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s statement.\n<\/p>\n
Major indexes headed to weekly and monthly losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.31% declined as much as 77 points, and was lately down 33.18 points, or 0.2%, to 14,807.77, off 4.5% for the month.\n<\/p>\n
Consumer discretionary and technology fed sector declines and consumer-staples and energy companies led gains among the 10 major industries on the S&P 500 index SPX -0.38%, which was off 4.99 points, or 0.3%, at 1,633.18, down 3.1% for the month. The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.79% fell 26.37 points, or 0.7%, to 3,594. It\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s lost less than 1% for the month.\n<\/p>\n
For every stock advancing, more than two gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where almost 253 million shares had traded as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern. Composite volume surpassed 1.3 billion.\n<\/p>\n
The preholiday weekend trade saw worries over Syria ebb, with stocks on Thursday gaining as US military strikes against Syria appeared less imminent and after better US economic data.\n<\/p>\n
An improved gauge of Chicago-area business activity also failed to deflect disappointing data on the consumer.Market Watch\n<\/p>\n
DT\/DT<\/p>\n