Wall Street slides, Dow snaps 6-week winning streak

U.S. stocks dipped after volatile trading on Friday to end the week lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a six-week gaining streak. The Dow lost 72.81 points, or 0.47 percent, to 15,425.51. The S& P 500 went down 6.06 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,691.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9.01 points, or 0.25 percent, to 3,660. 11. For the week, the Dow was down 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 shed 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq slipped 0.8 percent. The major stock indices logged their worst week since June, as investors jittered at hawkish remarks from senior U.S. Federal Reserve officials, who expressed their belief that the central bank would start to trim its monetary stimulus later this year, even as early as in September. The CBOE Volatility Index, the best gauge of fears in the market, jumped nearly 12 percent this week to 13.41 on Friday. On the economic front, U.S. wholesale inventories dropped 0.2 percent in June, following a downwardly-revised 0.6-percent decline in May, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. Meanwhile, wholesale sales in June rose 0.4 percent. However, stocks outside the United States gained across the board on Friday. Asian stocks rose as a string of Chinese economic data came in better than expected, showing signs of stabilization for the world's second largest economy. China's National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday that the country's industrial output growth picked up in July, rising 9.7 percent year on year, while the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, stayed flat at 2.7 percent. Stocks in Europe also ended in green territory, as data showed that Britain's exports climbed to a record high in June. In corporate news, shares of Priceline jumped 3.87 percent to 969.89 U.S. dollars apiece after the on-line travel agency released an upbeat earnings report for the second quarter late on Thursday, with both earnings and revenue surpassing market consensus. Looking ahead, Dow components Cisco Systems and Wal-Mart Stores are due to report earnings next week. The second quarter earnings season waned with nearly 90 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported results through Friday morning, according to Thomson Reuters data. Among the companies that have reported results, about 68 percent have beaten analysts' earnings estimates. In the previous week, the Dow set a new all-time high while the S&P 500 broke though the key level of 1,700 points for the first time ever. On other markets, oil prices rebounded strongly on Friday as China's upbeat economic data outweighed Fed tapering concerns and boosted markets confidence. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 2.57 dollars to settle at 105.97 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for September delivery went up 1.54 dollars to close at 108.22 dollars a barrel. The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies on Friday due to traders' technical operations after a streak of declining. The greenback dropped against its major currencies for the previous five sessions amid growing uncertainties about when the Fed would start to taper its monetary easing measures. In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.3340 dollars from 1.3387 dollars of the previous session and the British pound decreased to 1.5513 dollars from 1.5546 dollars. Gold futures rose for the third session in a row on Friday. The most active gold contract for December delivery rose 2.3 dollars to settle at 1,312.2 dollars per ounce.