U.S. stocks dropped heavily Friday as the price of oil hit near-seven-year-lows and traders anticipated an upcoming decision from the Federal Reserve on market rates, CNBC reported.
The Dow Jones dropped 310 points, while the S&P 500 dropped almost two percent on a day highlighted by a major, multibillion-dollar chemical company merger. Apple ended about 2.5 percent lower, underperforming even the Nasdaq composite, which fell below 5,000.
"What really conspired to weigh on investors today is they weighed on the Dow-DuPont combination as a move to battle low growth. And here it is, oil, telling us the same thing," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.
The major averages lost more than three percent over the week, Dow's worst week in a month and the S&P 500's worst since the middle of August. The Nasdaq composite the worst performer, off about 4 percent for the week.
