U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday, wrapping up a roller-coaster week on Wall Street, as heightened speculative trading by retail investors continued to unnerve the market.
The Dow Jones Industrials cratered 620.74 points, or 2%, to conclude business Friday at 29,982.62, a weekly fall of 1,014 points, or 3.27%.
It's the first time the 30-stock gauge has closed below the 30,000 mark since Dec. 14.
The S&P 500 let go of 73.14 points, or 1.9%, to 3,714.24, as 10 sectors registered losses. The larger index endured a descent of 127 points, or 3.31% on the week.
The NASDAQ crumbled 286.46 points, or 2%, to 13,070.70, for a loss of 472 points, or 3.49% over the last five sessions. Apple dropped 3.7% and other major tech names slipped.
For January, the blue-chip Dow dropped 2%, and the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, suffering their first negative month in four. The tech-heavy NASDAQ eked out a 1.4% gain on the month.
Shares of GameStop jumped 67.9% after Robinhood said it would allow limited buying of the stock and other heavily shorted names after restricting access the day before.
Robinhood raised more than $1 billion from its existing investors overnight, in addition to tapping bank credit lines, to ensure it had the capital required to allow some trading again in volatile stocks like GameStop.
Investors are concerned that if GameStop continues to rise in such a volatile fashion, it may ripple through the financial markets, causing losses at brokers like Robinhood and forcing hedge funds who bet against the stock to sell other securities to raise cash.
There are also fears that the GameStop mania is a sign of a larger bubble in the market and that its unraveling could also cause turbulence and hit retail investors hard.
Meanwhile, new trial results from Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine disappointed some investors, weighing on the broader market.
JNJ said its one-dose vaccine demonstrated 66% effectiveness overall in protecting against Covid-19. The vaccine was 72% effective in the United States, 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa after four weeks, the company said. The vaccine however offered complete protection against COVID-related hospitalizations. Shares of JNJ dropped 3.6%.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys dropped, raising yields to 1.08% from Thursday's 1.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 15 cents to $52.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $4.60 to $1,842.50 U.S. an ounce.