Wall St ends lower on Omicron worries, Fed taper angst

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.71 points, or 0.17%, to 34,580.08, the S&P 500 lost 38.67 points, or 0.84%, to 4,538.43 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 295.85 points, or 1.92%, to 15,085.47.The S&P, the Dow and the Nasdaq all registered declines for a week in which they swung wildly from day to day as investors reacted to Omicron news and Powell's comments.

NEW YORK: Wall Street's major indexes closed lower on Friday, with the Nasdaq leading the declines as investors bet that a strong jobs report would not slow the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of support all while they grappled with uncertainty around the Omicron coronavirus variant.

After opening higher, Wall Street spent the rest of the session in the doldrums and an elevated volatility index highlighted investor anxiety.