Investors hesitant as US stocks slip

NEW YORK: US stocks closed lower Friday with traders lacking any kind of news to spark enthusiasm for buying.

All the market energy seemed to go into driving smallish Nasdaq newcomer Yelp to a first day gain of over 60 percent, while blue chips languished and other tech stocks dropped on profit-taking.

At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.94 points (0.03 percent) to 12,976.36.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 4.23 (0.31 percent) to 1,369.86, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 12.78 points (0.43 percent) to 2,976.19.