Stocks Dipped in Light Volume

U.S. stocks dipped in light volume on Friday, putting the three major indexes on track for their worst week since June, as investors found little incentive to buy with equity prices not far below last week’s record levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 72.81 points, or 0.47%, to 15,425.51, leaving it down 1.5% on the week. The S&P 500 index lost 6.06 points, or 0.36%, to 1,691.42, off 1.1% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite declined 9.02 points, or 0.25%, to 3,660.11 and off 0.8% from the week-ago close.

President Barack Obama made clear Friday that he has no intention of stopping the daily collection of phone records from millions of Americans, but he promised “appropriate reforms” to how such surveillance is carried out.

The U.S. Postal Service lost $740 million in its third quarter that ended June 30, as aggressive cost-cutting measures helped it narrow its losses, the agency said on Friday. The mail carrier lost $5.2 billion during the same quarter last year.

A U.S. appeals court wrestled on Friday with a request by Apple Inc for a permanent injunction on sales of some phones made by its archrival, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, in a case that could have a deep impact on patent litigation.