Wall Street slips as higher US Treasury yields weigh

Wall Street's main indices have fallen in the final stretch of a turbulent week as investors digest shifting oil prices, higher Treasury yields and a Federal Reserve rate hike.

The quarterly expiration of derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, known as "triple witching," also threatened to exacerbate volatility.

Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indices were lower, and the materials index led losses with a 1.4 per cent decline.

The interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve and chair Kevin Warsh's commentary on the future trajectory of borrowing costs has kept investors busy this week.

"Today will be largely about digesting the effects and really thinking through the pros and cons of the Fed's recent moves," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.

Investors also reassessed the outlook for AI demand this week after top industry executives urged a slowdown in the development of the technology.

The race for AI supremacy is set to hang over next week's meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington DC.

With the earnings season still a month away, commentary from top industry executives at a string of conferences this week gave markets an early read on corporate health and helped shape sentiment.

"The recent strength of S&P 500 earnings growth has raised investor concerns that the market is in an 'earnings bubble'," wrote Ben Snider, chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs.

"While there are indeed factors contributing to 'over-earning' today, our base case is for S&P 500 earnings growth to decelerate, not collapse, in coming years."

In early trading on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 195.80 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 51,590.98, the S&P 500 lost 17.02 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,620.74 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 43.55 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 26,374.75.

Crude prices were volatile on Friday as markets weighed supply concerns following fresh strikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 4.9 bps to 4.996 per cent.

Meanwhile, Xenon Pharmaceuticals tumbled more than 27 per cent after it temporarily paused enrolment in tests for its experimental drug for major and bipolar depression following reports of side effects.