Major indexes of US stocks dipped on Friday in low trading volume before the holiday weekend as several blue-chip stocks slipped, including Nike.
Nike Inc shares fell 2.3 per cent after the company forecast muted growth in current-quarter revenue, reflecting its struggles in the North American market.
UnitedHealth Group Inc was down 0.8 per cent after the health insurer agreed to buy Chilean healthcare company Banmedica SA BAN.SN for $2.8 billion.
Investors are winding down ahead of Christmas on Monday, when the market will be closed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.23 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 24,754.06, the S&P 500 lost 1.23 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 2,683.34 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.40 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 6,959.96.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.42 per cent, the S&P gained 0.29 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.34 per cent, reports Reuters.
Wildly volatile bitcoin plunged below $12,000 before rebounding to above $14,000. Companies that have been riding the bitcoin wave were hit hard by the cryptocurrency's slump.
Long Blockchain Corp, Overstock.com Inc, Riot Blockchain Inc and Marathon Patent Group Inc tumbled between 2.0 per cent and 15 per cent.
But even with Friday’s losses, their share prices are higher now than before the companies ventured into bitcoin.
Real estate led the S&P 500 in gains, with a 0.7 per cent rise. Health was the biggest decliner, falling 0.3 per cent.
Celgene Corp shares fell 1.4 per cent after the company’s follicular lymphoma regimen failed in a clinical trial.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.30-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
