US stocks awash in red to end volatile week as investors dump tech shares 

4:05pm: US Stocks end down on tech weakness  US stocks fell Friday, ending a volatile week as tech shares continued their downward trend.  The losses mark the exchanges’ third-straight, one-week losses -- their longest weekly losing streaks in about a year.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.88%, or 244 points, to 27,657. The S&P dropped 1.12% to 3,319 and the Nasdaq lost 1.07% to 10,793 -- both down overall for the week. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) slumped 3% to $106.84 a share. The tech giant has lost 22.6% from its intraday record high of $137.98 from September 2, losing some $532 billion in market value. 12pm: US stocks slide; FTSE 100 closes in red FTSE 100 index finished in the red on Friday, as US stocks also sank, as markets were rattled by possible retaliatory measures from China after the US announced a ban on key apps from this Sunday. The UK's index of top shares closed down around 42 points at 6,007. Over the week as a whole, it shed around 0.41%. It comes as the White House is looking to prevent downloads of TikTok and fellow Chinese-owned app WeChat over concerns of national security threat. The US Commerce Department announced the download ban on Friday and reiterated that use of the TikTok app will be banned in the US from November 12. "Such a move opens an entirely new dimension to the US-China standoff, and puts major tech firms squarely in Beijing’s sights, as the two powers seek out their opponent’s weak spots," said chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp at online trading group IG. "US markets have struggled to hold their ground all week, and as the week comes to a close it looks like more pre-election losses are in store." US and Canada 11.40am Wall Street benchmarks were heading south in early deals in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed over 68 points at 27,833. The S&P 500 lost over 22 at 3,334. The tech-laden Nasdaq  index plunged over 116 points at 10,793. Up in Toronto, the TSX gained around 22 points at 16,269. 9.35am: Wall Street starts mixed US stocks, as predicted, started mixed on the last trading session of the week after yesterday saw another sharp sell-off in the tech giants. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped around 14  points at 27,899. The S&P 500 added around four points at 3,361. The Nasdaq added around 40 points at 10,940. On Thursday, the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) led the tech-laden index to its worst day for about a week. It came as traders fret again about the economic repercussions of the pandemic and no fiscal package to help out as yet agreed by congress. Mid-week the Federal Reserve policy announcement was widely met with a large shrug of the shoulders despite a commitment that interest rates would stay at bargain basement levels until at least the end of 2023. 7.45am: Mixed early progress predicted US markets were seen starting mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite to open higher after a two-day sell-off, but worries about rising coronavirus cases and a patchy economic recovery weighed on Dow futures. Wall Street’s three main indexes bounced higher earlier this week as investors bet on a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, but the US central bank’s stimulus plans proved disappointing on Wednesday and Wall Street has sold-off since. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 130.40 points, or 0.4%, lower, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3%. For the week, the Nasdaq is on pace for a weekly gain of 0.9%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 are aiming for a rise of 0.5%. Volatility is likely to be higher on Friday, however, related to a quarterly expiration of US stock options, stock index futures and index option contracts, known as “quadruple witching”. Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA Europe noted: “This week hasn't quite lived up to expectations and investors are getting a little nervous as we head into the final few months of the year. “The Fed is highly accommodative but not accommodative enough, Congress is desperate to agree a much needed relief package but no closer to doing so and virus numbers globally are rising, rapidly. What's more, tech stocks - which were a driving force behind the outstanding stock market comeback - remain shaky and vulnerable to more downside. “While the end of the year could look very different - a Covid vaccine, political clarity and fiscal support - the next few weeks could be challenging. Congress is running out of time and an awful lot of compromise is required to get anything over the line. In the absence of a deal, it's not hard to envisage a continuation of the tech-led correction in the markets.” Six things to watch on Friday: investors are watching for the University of Michgan consumer sentiment report, due at 10am; St. Louis Fed President James Bullard delivers a speech at the same time, while Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks at 12pm Tesla Inc rose premarket after two analysts raised their price targets on the electric carmaker's shares ahead of its highly anticipated "Battery Day" event next week The US electric carmaker has also won its case against a former employee, who was fired for hacking and transferring company data to third parties China’s ByteDance is planning a US initial public offering of TikTok Global, the new company that will operate the popular short video app, should its proposed deal be cleared by the US government Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has changed the name of its WeChat Work office collaboration app to WeCom, setting it up as a potential alternative to its messaging app WeChat ahead of a US ban Jack Ma’s Ant Group has received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for a domestic initial public offering, bringing the Chinese financial technology firm closer to a dual-listing expected to be worth up to $30 billion