U.S. futures and oil prices also were lower this morning, a day after several central banks around the world cranked interest rates higher in their fight against inflation, the Associated Press reports.
Central banks worldwide have been raising interest rates to make borrowing more costly and slow economic growth to stifle inflation, but the strategy risks going too far in stalling growth and dragging economies into a recession.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%.
In other trading today, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed $1.29 to $68.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, even though the majority of stocks fell. A rebound for technology stocks helped to overshadow losses elsewhere in the market and keep the benchmark index afloat.
Gains for high-growth stocks also drove the Nasdaq composite to a market-leading gain of 1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1%.
