Wall Street finished flat on Friday after disappointing quarterly reports from Microsoft and Alphabet slammed tech stocks, while a surge in oil prices lifted energy shares.
The S&P technology sector dropped 1.9 percent, its worst decline since early February, with Facebook (FB.O) down 2.5 percent and Intel (INTC.O) falling 1.03 percent.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) dropped 7.17 percent, contributing the biggest drag to the S&P 500, and Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) lost 5.41 percent as investors punished both companies for missing profit and revenue estimates. It was Alphabet's worst day since 2012.
Helped by a softer dollar and a recovery in oil prices, the S&P 500 has rebounded from a steep selloff earlier this year and is only about 2 percent short of last May's record high.
Wall Street has rock-bottom expectations as companies post their first-quarter results over the next few weeks, with S&P 500 companies on average seen reporting a 7.1-percent fall in profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Crude rose over 1 percent on signs of strong U.S. gasoline consumption, declining production around the world and oilfield outages.
Oil prices have moved in lockstep with U.S. stocks for several months and some investors expected more gains next week.
So far, 77 percent of first-quarter earnings have exceeded expectations, which is superior to the 63-percent beat rate in a typical quarter.
"What's driving the market right now is earnings and oil," said Thomas Wilson, Managing Director of Wealth Advisory at Brinker Capital.
"If earnings results come in above the very low bar of expectations that are out there, and you combine that with a continued rising price of oil, that should equate to an upward trend in the market next week."
