Dow Falls as Techs Lurch Lower

Stocks slipped Friday as a sharp decline in Netflix shares pressured the rest of the market to end the week.

The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative 28.35 points by noon to 26,706.36.

The S&P 500 recovered 7.68 points to 3,223.25.

The NASDAQ recovered 24.9 points to 10,498.73.

Netflix reported second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations, pushing the stock down 7%. The company’s weak guidance for third-quarter subscriber growth — a key metric for the streaming giant — also contributed to the steep sell-off in the stock.

Shares of other major tech companies also struggled. Facebook traded 0.7% lower on Friday while Amazon pulled back by 0.1%. Microsoft and Alphabet dipped 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.

Those results come as Netflix, along with other major tech stocks, have struggled this week. Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are all down week to date.

Tech’s struggles led to a pronounced divergence between the NASDAQ and two other major indexes, the Dow and S&P 500. The S&P 500 gained 1%, and the Dow is up 2.4% this week. Both were on pace for their third straight weekly gain. However, the tech-heavy NASDAQ has fallen more than 1%, on track to post its first weekly loss in three.

More than 3.5 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. Some states, including California, Florida and Texas, have had to roll back reopening measures to curb a recent spike in cases.

Prices for the 10-Year Treasury slid, raising yields to 0.63% from Thursday’s 0.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices sank six cents to $40.69 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $11.90 to $1,812.20 U.S. an ounce.