• US equities edged lower on Friday as investors weighed healthy quarterly earnings against fresh signs of a prolonged recession and concern over an economic-stimulus agreement.
  • Agriculture giant Deere & Co. gained in early trading after beating Wall Street’s expectations and boosting its profit guidance.
  • Yet traders continued to sell stocks on fears of a longer-than-expected slump. Treasury yields fell slightly amid a move to safe havens.
  • Oil dropped further after Thursday’s strong decline. West Texas Intermediate crude fell as much as 1.5%, to $41.91 per barrel.
  • Watch major indexes update live here.

US stocks edged lower on Friday to close out a week that saw multiple major indexes hit record highs.

Investors sold equities near all-time highs as they weighed strong corporate earnings against continued virus uncertainty. Agriculture giant Deere & Co. gained in early trading after beating quarterly estimates and raising its profit forecast.

Yet traders continued to trim risk on fears of a longer-than-expected recession. Treasury yields ticked slightly lower, and the dollar extended gains after tanking to a two-year low earlier in the week.

Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET market open on Friday:

Read more: Steven Goldstein successfully played the market for 25 years before starting to coach traders who manage billions. Here are his 15 'golden' rules that helped him ensure investing success.

The market decline comes after rallying tech stocks erased losses in Thursday trading. Investors got their latest sign of the economic recovery weakening on Thursday morning when jobless claims unexpectedly climbed to 1.1 million. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a reading of 920,000.

Traders found some optimism in vaccine news from Pfizer and BioNTech. The companies said late Thursday their experimental coronavirus vaccine could be sent to regulators for approval as early as October. The inoculation also showed fewer side effects in its latest study than in past trials, the companies said in a press release.

Oil continued to trend lower as fears of weak demand escalated. West Texas Intermediate crude fell as much as 1.5%, to $41.94 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 1.7%, to $44.11 per barrel, at intraday lows.

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