In New York on Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down again by more than 100 points in midday trade, falling 0.96 percent to 13,344.56, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.89 percent to 2,576.32 and the S&P 500 was 1.12 percent lower to 1,466.1.
The declines came even though the Commerce Department had released a report calling the US economy strong in the second quarter, with the GDP up at an annual rate of 3.4 percent, better than the 3.3 percent growth that had been expected.
A gain to 90.4 by the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index in July didn’t seem to impress investors, either.
The oil sector was lower after Thursday’s quarterly report from ExxonMobil (NSYE: XOM), which showed profits off from predictions.
ExxonMobil dropped 2.2 percent to $86.24.
Chevron, which reported profits up in the most recent quarter, was also lower, falling 2.5 percent to $85.31.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK; LSE: GSK) was down 2.79 percent to $49.80 ahead of a Monday meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration to look at the safety of its Avandia diabetes drug, which has been implicated in increased risks of heart problems to patients.
GlaxoSmithKline claims that Avandia is as safe as other diabetes drugs and that the study which found the risks was flawed.
Elsewhere in the sector, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) had dropped 0.41 percent to $24.05 while Merck (NYSE: MRK) was 2.69 percent lower to $50.57.
On the other hand, shoe manufacturer Crocs Inc (NAS: CROX) hit a new record high share prices when it went as high as $59.71 before falling back to $55.25 in midday trade, a gain of 9.2 percent on its report that earnings tripled in the second quarter and on an increased full-year forecast.