Oil prices concern investors as US equities fall

The continuing upward trend in oil prices made investors nervous on Friday as New York equities markets closed down for the day and the week on Friday.

Shares of companies that consume significant amounts of energy or make products that do so were particularly affected.

Delta Airlines fell by 3.4 percent to $3.72, while Northwest Airlines lost 3.4 percent as well, to $4.88.

FedEx was down 0.8 percent to $80.10 after having lost 7.8 percent in Thursday after issuing a profits warning for the quarter.

Steelmakers were also down after Morgan Stanley revised its outlook for the sector down. Steel Dynamics lost 2.2 percent to $25.70.

In the automobile manufacturing sector, Ford fell 1.8 percent on Friday to $10.21 after a 4.3 percent decline on Wednesday after an announcement of a reduced profit forecast for the year.

The oil sector had a better week. Unocal gained 0.2 percent on a bid by Chinese oil company CNOOC on Thursday after the $19.6 billion bid was announced, and CNOOC gained 0.5 percent to $59.90.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.2 percent on the day and 2.1 percent for the week, to 10,297.84, the S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent for the day to 1,191.54, capping a 1.5 percent loss for the week, and the Nasadq composite lost 0.8 percent for the day and 1.3 percent on the week to close at 2,053.27.

Story link: Oil prices concern investors as US equities fall