US stocks fall as Fed policy headwinds batter tech sector

• US stocks fell on Friday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading declines for a second day.
• Investors continue to digest moves from the Fed and other central banks to tighten monetary policy.
• Meanwhile, Omicron coronavirus variant cases continue to surge around the world.

US stocks lost more ground on Friday, with the tech sector leading the downside again as investors digested moves by top central banks this week to tighten monetary policy.

The Nasdaq is poised to give up all its gains from earlier in the week and finish in negative territory, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on track to stay positive.

Markets initially spiked in the immediate aftermath of the Federal Reserve's meeting Wednesday, when policymakers accelerated the pace of bond-purchase tapering and signaled three rate hikes in 2022. Despite the Fed's more hawkish stance, Chairman Jerome Powell still indicated flexibility during his press briefing.

But stocks sold off Thursday as other central banks joined the Fed. The Bank of England announced a surprise increase in interest rates, and the European Central Bank said it would wind down an emergency bond-buying program. While a separate ECB stimulus effort will ramp up, the net effect is fewer asset purchases.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET close on Friday:

• S&P 500: 4,638.57, down 0.64%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,704.40, down 0.54% (193.24 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 15,037.10, down 0.89%

Elsewhere in the market, Tesla stock slipped as CEO Elon Musk offloaded another $884.1 million worth of shares in the EV maker. Since early November, his sales now total nearly $14 billion.

Meanwhile, hedge fund giant Ray Dalio confirmed he owns ether in addition to bitcoin but described both holdings as "a relatively small part" of his portfolio.

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, whose software company owns about $6 billion worth of bitcoin, said the cryptocurrency doesn't need Warren Buffett's endorsement to be wildly successful.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.62% to $71.21 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, slipped 1.60% to $73.84 per barrel.

Gold rose rose 0.56% to $1,808.30 per ounce, while bitcoin dropped 2.83% to $46.750. The 10-year US treasury rate dipped 2 basis points to 1.397%.