Stocks Ended Lower; Dow Dropped Below 17,000

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 17,000 on disappointing earnings. The Dow lost 123.23 points, or 0.72%, to 16,960.57, falling 0.8% for the week. The S&P 500 closed 9.64 points, or 0.48%, lower at 1,978.34 and finished the week roughly where it started it. The Nasdaq Composite shed 22.54 points, or 0.50%, to 4,449.56, but eked out a weekly gain of 0.4%.

Shares in El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. (LOCO) jumped Friday on its first day of trading as a public company. The operator of the Mexican fast-food chain priced its initial public offering of 7.1 million shares at $15 a share, the top of the expected range.

The media giant 21st Century Fox’s attempts to buy Time Warner Inc. may soon be heating up. On Friday, 21st Century Fox said it was selling its Italian and German pay-television assets to British Sky Broadcasting Group for more than $9 billion, the latest sign of consolidation in Europe’s media industry.