(Updates with index/price moves data, and political news from the first paragraph.)
US stocks traded lower as technology raced to the bottom of sector charts, while crude oil traded at levels last seen before the Iran war after a "framework agreement" was signed between Israel and Lebanon.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 25,263.4 ahead of Friday's close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1% to 51,847.5, while the S&P 500 was down 0.2% to 7,347.4.
Technology and industrials led the four declining sectors intraday. Health care, consumer discretionary, and consumer staples were among the top gainers.
In a category of stocks with a market capitalization of over $200 billion, 16 out of the 20 worst-performing stocks were technology firms. Western Digital (WDC), Seagate Technology (STX), and Sandisk (SNDK) were the steepest decliners, down by at least 8.2% each. In the sliding technology shares, more than half were semiconductor companies.
In geopolitical news, negotiators from Lebanon and Israel signed a "framework agreement" on the handover of areas in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon after US-mediated talks in Washington, DC., according to a Friday report from Al Jazeera, a Middle East news broadcaster.
This comes as Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the UN's International Maritime Organization, said 115 vessels and 2,500 seafarers have been evacuated from the Strait of Hormuz since Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.
The front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent slumped 4.5% to $71.88 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate retreated 3.8% to $69.19 per barrel, extending their declines to the lowest since the beginning of the Iran war.