US stocks fell in a volatile session on Friday as biotech shares resumed their downward trend and disappointing earnings from J. P Morgan weighed on the financial sector. J. P Morgan Chase & Co shares fell 3.2 percent to $55.59 as the biggest drag on the S&P 500 after it reported a far weaker-than-expected quarterly profit as revenue from securities trading fell.
The S&P financial index lost 0.8 percent as the worst performing S&P sector. Biotech and momentum stocks extended losses from the previous session's sharp selloff that sent the Nasdaq to its worst decline since November 9, 2011 and the benchmark S&P index to its biggest fall since February 3.
The Nasdaq biotech index fell 0.2 percent after rising as much as 1 percent earlier. The Global X social media index, which includes Facebook and LinkedIn, fell 1.5 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 108.15 points or 0.67 percent, to 16,062.07, the S&P 500 lost 9.8 points or 0.53 percent, to 1,823.28 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 24.298 points or 0.6 percent, to 4,029.808.
S&P 500 companies' first-quarter earnings are projected to have increased just 0.9 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed. That's down sharply from the start of the year, when profit growth was estimated at 6.5 percent.
Shares of Wells Fargo & Co rose 1.3 percent to $48.33 after the biggest mortgage lender in the US reported a 14 percent rise in first-quarter net profit.
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