Stocks fell Friday as a strong U.S. dollar hurt commodity prices, giving investors a reason to sell shares after pushing the three major indexes to 18-month highs the previous session. The technology and telecommunications sectors were hurt by Palm's big quarterly loss. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and the yen, dragging on dollar-traded commodity prices. Light sweet crude oil for April delivery fell $1.52 to $80.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for April delivery fell $19.90 to $1,107.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.19, or 0.35 percent, to 10,741.98. Twenty-two of the index's 30 components fell, led by Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Caterpillar, 3M, Procter & Gamble, IBM, and American Express. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.93, or 0.5 percent, to 1,159.90. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 16.87, or 0.7 percent, to 2,374.41. Palm's shares fell 26 percent after the smart-telephone maker reported a bigger-than-expected loss after markets closed Thursday. The company also said a big buildup of inventory will limit current-quarter revenue.
