LIVE MARKETS-Weak start to end the week

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WEAK START TO END THE WEEK

U.S. stocks are slumping in the early stages of Friday's session, with each of the three major indexes on track for their biggest daily percentage drops since the selloff in the wake of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Dec. 18.

Stocks that have been among the best performing on the year are largely in the red thus far in the session, with names such as Palantir PLTR.O, Vistra Corp VST.N and Nvidia NVDA.O, the top three S&P 500 performers for 2024, all lower on the day.

Nearly all of the 11 major S&P sectors are in the red, with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and tech .SPLRCT both down more than 2% as mega cap names such as Tesla TSLA.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Apple AAPL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O also weigh heavily.

The energy .SPNY sector is the sold advancer as crude prices CLc1 rise modestly.

With Friday's sharp declines, the major indexes have significantly trimmed their weekly gains, but thus far remain on track to rebound from last week's declines.

Here is an early trade snapshot:

(Chuck Mikolajczak)

FOR FRIDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

NASDAQ COMPOSITE: TAPPING THE THERMOSTAT? - CLICK HERE

THE DOLLAR CAN HOLD ITS GROUND UNTIL SUMMER 2025 - SG - CLICK HERE

NEW YEAR, NEW EURO LOW? - CLICK HERE

CHINA TAKING "WHATEVER IS NECESSARY" APPROACH - CLICK HERE

STOXX 600 INCHES UP IN HOLIDAY THINNED TRADING, DELIVERY HERO FALLS - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES TICK UP AT END OF HOLIDAY-DISRUPTED WEEK - CLICK HERE