Stocks Closed Lower on Oil Drop, Brexit Fears

U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, with only blue chips holding onto slight gains for the week, as anxiety over a possible exit of the U.K. from the European Union and a drop in oil prices weighed on markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 119.85 points, or 0.67%, to 17,865.34 and eked out a weekly gain of 0.3%. The S&P 500 dropped 19.41 points, or 0.92%, to 2,096.07 and booked a 0.2% weekly loss. The Nasdaq Composite gave up 64.07 points, or 1.29%, to 4,894.55, for a 1% weekly decline.

Oil futures settled lower on Friday, with U.S. prices falling back below $50 a barrel as traders worried that recent price gains, including a 0.9% rise this week, could prompt a rebound in crude production. July West Texas Intermediate crude lost $1.49, or 3%, to settle at $49.07 a barrel. August Brent crude fell $1.41, or 2.7%, to $50.54 a barrel.

Betting that British voters will opt to leave the European Union on June 23 is now the “risky” trade when it comes to U.K. equities, according to a firm that tracks institutional-investor positioning.

The federal government’s budget deficit shrank sharply in May because of a calendar quirk. But even with latest improvement, the deficit for the first eight months of this budget year is larger than last year. The Treasury Department says the deficit last month totaled $52.5 billion, down from a deficit of $84.1 billion in May 2015.

Gawker Media has filed for bankruptcy, and the bidding for its assets begins now. On Friday, the embattled media company said it had agreed to sell all seven of its brands and other assets to the tech publisher Ziff Davis.

But 31% of American adults, or 76 million people, say they are struggling to get by or just barely making it, according to the Federal Reserve Bank’s latest survey on Americans’ economic well-being, which looked at 2015.