US stocks fall on oil-sector weakness

Weakness in petroleum-linked equities weighed on US stocks Friday following poor earnings from ExxonMobil and Chevron and a drop in oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 55.52 points (0.31 percent) to 17,690.46.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 4.71 (0.22 percent) to 2,103.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.50 (0.01 percent) to 5,128.28.

Dow component ExxonMobil shed 4.6 percent after reporting net income fell by 52.3 percent year-over-year to $4.2 billion in the second quarter. Chevron lost 4.9 percent as it reported about a 90 percent drop in profits to just $571 million.

But the pain to petroleum-oriented equities did not end there. Drilling company Nabors Industries lost 1.7 percent and producer Marathon Oil shed 3.9 percent after US oil prices dived almost 3.0 percent to close at $47.52 a barrel.

Analysts also cited a surprisingly weak report on US worker pay. Wages and salaries rose 0.2 percent in the second quarter, decelerating from 0.7 percent growth in the first, the Labor Department said. Analysts noted it was the smallest growth in civilian employment costs on record.

Dow member Merck gained 0.8 percent after results showed its new Ebola vaccine was effective.

Biotech company Amgen advanced 2.9 percent after reporting that second-quarter net income rose 6.9 percent to $1.7 billion.

Professional networking site LinkedIn plummeted 10.5 percent after posting strong second-quarter results late Thursday, as analysts said there were signs that the company's growth may be cooling.

Online travel site Expedia bolted 12.9 percent higher as it reported net income in the second quarter of $449.6 million, up from $89.4 million in the year-ago period. Deutsche Bank said the "strong" results underscored the wisdom of the company's acquisition strategy.

Cybersecurity company FireEye sank 6.9 percent on news that chief financial officer Michael Sheridan will leave the company to serve in the same role at a company in another sector.

Bond prices advanced. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury tumbled to 2.19 percent from 2.27 percent Thursday, while the 30-year fell to 2.91 percent from 2.95 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.