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Wall Street ended lower on Friday, with Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and other tech-related companies weighing on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq despite recent strong quarterly earnings reports. The TSX also lost altitude in a broad decline led by the tech and materials sectors.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 147.59 points, or 0.77%, at 19,108.33, with the tech sector sliding 1.80% and materials 1.37%. Shopify was down 4.19% in Toronto, and when combined with Thursday’s losses, has now nearly completely retraced its 11% rally Wednesday following better-than-expected earnings. Both copper and gold stocks contributed to the pullback Friday in the materials sector.

For the month, the TSX gained 2.1%. It closed at a record high on Wednesday.

A day after the S&P 500 closed at a record high, Apple, Google-parent Alphabet and Facebook each gave back gains following upbeat quarterly reports this week.

Amazon.com Inc ended down 0.1% after it posted record profit late on Thursday and signaled that consumers would keep spending in a growing U.S. economy. Amazon had been up over 2% earlier in the session.

Twitter Inc plunged 15% after it offered a tepid revenue forecast for the second quarter, saying user growth could slow as the boost seen during the pandemic fizzles.

While megacap favorites posted largely strong earnings in the first quarter, their shares have struggled to maintain the upward trajectory that many had coming into reporting season.

“There is a sense that maybe next quarter is as good as it’s going to get, and we’re going to roll over, particularly among the Nasdaq stocks and Big Tech stocks that benefited from the pandemic,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors in Palm Beach, Florida.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes fell, with technology and materials down more than 1%, and energy falling almost 3%.

Of the 303 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 87% have topped analysts’ earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 46% jump in profit growth.

Data on Friday showed U.S. consumer spending rebounded in March amid a surge in income as households received additional COVID-19 pandemic relief money from the government.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54% to end at 33,875.31 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.72% to 4,181.21.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.85%, to 13,962.68.

Despite Friday’s weakness, the Nasdaq completed its sixth consecutive month of gains, rising 5.4% in April. The Dow added 2.7% in April while the S&P 500 rose 5.2%, both gaining for a third month in a row.

For the week, the S&P 500 was about flat, the Dow lost 0.5% and the Nasdaq shed 0.4%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.13-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.13-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 52 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 84 new highs and 45 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.3 billion shares, compared with the 9.8 billion full-session average over the last 20 trading days.

U.S. Treasury yields eased as investors purchased the debt to rebalance investor portfolios for month-end, despite fears of higher inflation as businesses reopen. Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 4/32 in price to yield 1.6276%, from 1.64% late on Thursday.

Oil prices fell on concerns about wider lockdowns in India and Brazil.

Brent crude futures settled down $1.30, or 1.9%, at $67.26 a barrel. U.S. crude futures settled down $1.47, or 2.26%, at $63.54 per barrel. U.S. crude futures settled at $63.58 per barrel, down 2.2%. Brent crude futures settled at

Spot gold dropped 0.3% to $1,766.89 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled 0.14% lower at $1,767.30 an ounce. The July copper contract was down 1.85 cents at nearly US$4.47 a pound.

Read more: Stocks that saw action on Friday - and why

Reuters, Globe staff

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