US stocks end lower on social media and technology stocks

U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday after Snap’s disappointing earnings scare investors and sent social media and tech companies down, which more than offset the momentum coming from card issuer American. Express after an optimistic forecast.

The S&P 500 index closed down 0.93% at 3,961.63 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.43% to 31,899.29 points. The Nasdaq Composite technology index fell 1.87% to 11,834.11 points.

Still, the three major indexes posted weekly gains, with the technology-focused Nasdaq ending the week up 3.3%. The S&P 500 advanced 2.4%, and the Dow Jones gained 2%.

The Snapchat owner posted its weakest quarterly sales growth ever as a public company, sending Snap’s stock plummeting nearly 40%.

Twitter Inc reversed previous losses and advanced 0.8% despite a surprising drop in revenue.

Other internet companies that rely heavily on ads have fallen. Tech giants Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc saw their shares fall 7.6% and 5.6% respectively, weighing on the Nasdaq.

Meta and Alphabet are expected to release their numbers next week, along with mega-cap pairs including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc.

The communications services and information technology indices dropped 4.3% and 1.4%, respectively, and were at the bottom of the 11 S&P 500 sectors.

“Balance sheets are coming in less worse than feared, but they’re deteriorating from what we’ve been used to over the past several quarters,” said Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments.

American Express Co rose 1.9% on strong balance sheet and higher revenue forecast.