U.S. stocks fell on Friday with higher oil prices weighing on economically sensitive companies such as Caterpillar Inc. and ratings downgrades of Amazon.com and chip-equipment stocks hurting the technology sector. Caterpillar, the world's largest heavy equipment maker, was down nearly 1 percent to $90.76 on higher oil prices. After falling on Thursday, oil prices were back on the rise as tight supplies of distillate fuel, including heating oil, ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter spurred buying. Banc of America Securities said it has started research coverage on shares of Amazon.com Inc. with an initial rating of "sell." Amazon fell nearly 4 percent to $38.86 on the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs said it had reduced its coverage view on the U.S. chip equipment industry to "cautious" from "neutral" and cut its rating on Applied Materials Inc. to "underperform." Applied Materials fell nearly 3 percent to $17.15. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 77.22 points, or 0.73 percent, at 10,495.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 8.29 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,175.26. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 17.22 points, or 0.82 percent, at 2,087.06. --More 1910 Local Time 1610 GMT
