NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were sold off again  Friday as investors feared a new breakout in the Israel-U.S. war on Iran, now expected after the midterm elections. Industrial stocks bore the brunt of Friday's selling, while tech stocks, although down, saw modest losses.

"For the last two weeks, investors have been sprinting from tech stocks and data center beneficiary stocks to safe stuff, and eventually, you run out of people willing to do that sprint, and that's what today looks like and feels like," Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, told CNBC Friday. 

"Emotion and fear play a really big role," Ellerbroek said. "But we've gotten a few tech companies' and their earnings results have been good," he added.

The Standard and Poor's 500 closed at 7,623.63, down 39.80 points, a loss of 0.52 per cent. The index traded between 7,612.07 and 7,660.15 on the day, within a 52-week range of 6,316.91 to 7,844.52. Volume was 2.716B.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw the steepest percentage decline of the group, falling 653.95 points to 52,214.03, a drop of 1.24 per cent. The Dow moved between 52,055.10 and 52,696.70 during the session, against a 52-week range of 45,057.28 to 54,744.33. Volume was 341.126M.

The NASDAQ Composite slipped 53.52 points to 25,955.34, down 0.21 per cent. It traded between 25,866.15 and 26,111.62, within a 52-week range of 20,690.25 to 27,722.75, on volume of 4.962B.

U.S. Dollar Gains Against Most Major Currencies Friday, Aussie and Canadian Dollars The Exception

The U.S. dollar traded stronger against most major currencies on Friday's foreign exchange market, with the exception of the Australian and Canadian dollars, which advanced against the greenback.

The euro slid against the dollar, with EUR-USD at 1.1195, a dip of 0.19 percent. The British pound also edged lower, with GBP-USD at 1.3373, down 0.21 percent.

The dollar slipped against the Japanese yen, with USD-JPY at 156.88, an increase of 0.07 percent.

The Australian dollar bucked the trend, with AUD-USD at 0.7037, a gain of 0.24 percent. The Canadian dollar also rose against the U.S. currency, with USD-CAD at 1.4003, down 0.05 percent.

The dollar was stronger against the Swiss franc, with USD-CHF at 0.8252, showing a gain for the greenback of 0.57 percent.

Global Equity Markets End Mostly Lower Friday as Canadian, UK, European Indices Retreat, Asian Exchanges Mixed

World stock markets closed Friday on a mixed note, with major Canadian, UK and European benchmarks finishing in negative territory while several Asian indices posted gains.

In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite index closed at 35,788.18, down 185.27 points or 0.52 per cent. The index ranged between 35,491.62 and 35,878.63 on the day, with a 52-week range of 29,530.90 to 37,069.10. Volume was 236.392M.

In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 10,690.36, down 34.67 points, a decline of 0.32 percent. The session saw a high of 10,748.42 and a low of 10,630.00, against a 52-week range of 9,423.90 to 10,989.50.

On the continent, Germany's DAX P fell 190.10 points to 25,181.65, a drop of 0.75 percent, trading between 25,013.54 and 25,329.32. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 28.44 points to 7,782.82, down 0.36 percent, within a range of 7,728.45 to 7,812.76. The EURO STOXX 50 I declined 18.79 points to 6,068.22, a loss of 0.31 percent, after moving between 6,021.09 and 6,097.16.

Bucking the trend, the Euronext 100 Index edged up 0.08 points to 1,844.49, a gain of 0.00 percent, and Belgium's BEL 20 rose 45.53 points to 5,781.80, up 0.79 percent.

In Asia, Hong Kong's HANG SENG INDEX added 158.69 points to close at 23,093.37, up 0.69 percent, with a session range of 22,803.77 to 23,231.63. Singapore's STI Index gained 7.02 points to 5,422.16, up 0.13 percent.

In mainland China, the SSE Composite Index rose 32.45 points to 3,690.48, up 0.89 percent, on volume of 3.745B. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed at 62,693.16, down 214.68 points or 0.34 percent, having traded between 61,462.61 and 62,786.89.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.00 points to 8,795.20, up 0.02 percent, while the ALL ORDINARIES dipped 11.30 points to 8,905.80, down 0.13 percent.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 INDEX GROSS slipped 12.91 points to 13,733.93, down 0.09 percent. South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index advanced 16.53 points to 5,550.30, up 0.30 percent, on volume of 249,517.

India's S&P BSE SENSEX fell 125.56 points to 73,123.83, a loss of 0.17 percent, trading between 72,452.37 and 73,766.51. Indonesia's IDX COMPOSITE gained 51.35 points to 5,439.26, up 0.95 percent, and Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 3.42 points to 1,611.56, up 0.21 percent.

Taiwan's TSEC CAPITALIZATION WEIGHTED ST dropped 846.34 points to 46,041.43, a fall of 1.81 percent.

In the Middle East most markets were closed Friday and were due to reopen on Sunday. Israel's markets however traded. The TA-125, in Tel Aviv, declined 32.92 points to 4,034.99, down 0.81 percent.

In Africa, the South African Top 40 USD Net TRI Index lost 74.89 points to 6,469.33, down 1.14 percent.

(This report incorporates quotes retrieved with the assistance of artificial intelligence).

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