<p>US stocks turned lower in volatile trading on Friday as worries about rising coronavirus cases and a patchy economic recovery dampened risk sentiment, with technology-related stocks reversing early gains to extend their declines to a third day.</p>.<p>Volatility is likely to be higher on Friday related to a quarterly expiration of US stock options, stock index futures and index option contracts, known as "quadruple witching".</p>.<p>Out of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, financials rose the most, while technology was the biggest decliner, falling 2%.</p>.<p>"The acceleration of digital, virtual and e-commerce trends has caused valuations in the tech sector to expand," said Thomas Mantione, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management in Stamford, Connecticut.</p>.<p>"But as we've seen, the tech sector is not immune from the volatility that could be caused by the lack of fiscal policy response to Covid-19 and uncertainty surrounding the 2020 election."</p>.<p>Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc led declines on the Nasdaq, falling between 2.7% and 3.2%.</p>.<p>Among sectors, industrials, materials and energy have gained more than 2% so far this week, while communication services and consumer discretionary eyed the biggest weekly declines.</p>.<p>Wall Street's three main indexes bounced earlier this week as investors bet on a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, but gains petered out in the absence of firm details on the central bank's stimulus plan.</p>.<p>The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have also come under pressure from investors rotating out of high-flying tech-related stocks and into industrial and transportation firms.</p>.<p>At 12:41 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 135.29 points, or 0.48%, at 27,766.69, the S&P 500 was down 33.48 points, or 1.00%, at 3,323.53 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 176.10 points, or 1.61%, at 10,734.18.</p>.<p>Tesla rose 2.9% as two analysts raised their price targets on the electric carmaker's shares ahead of its highly anticipated "Battery Day" event next week.</p>.<p>Oracle Corp fell 0.6% after Reuters reported the US Commerce Department plans to issue an order on Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on Sept. 20.</p>.<p>The owner of the widely popular TikTok app, ByteDance, is in talks with Oracle and others to create a new company, TikTok Global.</p>.<p>On a bright note, a survey showed US consumer sentiment improved in early September.</p>.<p>Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.</p>.<p>The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 56 new highs and 13 new lows.</p>
<p>US stocks turned lower in volatile trading on Friday as worries about rising coronavirus cases and a patchy economic recovery dampened risk sentiment, with technology-related stocks reversing early gains to extend their declines to a third day.</p>.<p>Volatility is likely to be higher on Friday related to a quarterly expiration of US stock options, stock index futures and index option contracts, known as "quadruple witching".</p>.<p>Out of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, financials rose the most, while technology was the biggest decliner, falling 2%.</p>.<p>"The acceleration of digital, virtual and e-commerce trends has caused valuations in the tech sector to expand," said Thomas Mantione, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management in Stamford, Connecticut.</p>.<p>"But as we've seen, the tech sector is not immune from the volatility that could be caused by the lack of fiscal policy response to Covid-19 and uncertainty surrounding the 2020 election."</p>.<p>Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc led declines on the Nasdaq, falling between 2.7% and 3.2%.</p>.<p>Among sectors, industrials, materials and energy have gained more than 2% so far this week, while communication services and consumer discretionary eyed the biggest weekly declines.</p>.<p>Wall Street's three main indexes bounced earlier this week as investors bet on a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, but gains petered out in the absence of firm details on the central bank's stimulus plan.</p>.<p>The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have also come under pressure from investors rotating out of high-flying tech-related stocks and into industrial and transportation firms.</p>.<p>At 12:41 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 135.29 points, or 0.48%, at 27,766.69, the S&P 500 was down 33.48 points, or 1.00%, at 3,323.53 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 176.10 points, or 1.61%, at 10,734.18.</p>.<p>Tesla rose 2.9% as two analysts raised their price targets on the electric carmaker's shares ahead of its highly anticipated "Battery Day" event next week.</p>.<p>Oracle Corp fell 0.6% after Reuters reported the US Commerce Department plans to issue an order on Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on Sept. 20.</p>.<p>The owner of the widely popular TikTok app, ByteDance, is in talks with Oracle and others to create a new company, TikTok Global.</p>.<p>On a bright note, a survey showed US consumer sentiment improved in early September.</p>.<p>Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.</p>.<p>The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 56 new highs and 13 new lows.</p>