US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq close out worst week since December on trade worries

* S&P 500, Nasdaq post worst week since December
* U.S. employment growth in July slows
* Apple drags tech, Nasdaq lower
* Indexes down: Dow 0.37%, S&P 0.73%, Nasdaq 1.32%

(Updates to market close)
By Evan Sully
NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street extended its
sell-off on Friday on renewed trade fears as the benchmark S&P
500 index and Nasdaq saw their worst weekly percentage plunges
since December, when investors were spooked by the prospect of a
looming recession.
The blue chip Dow and the S&P 500 hit their lowest levels
since late June with S&P 500 and the Nasdaq registering their
fifth consecutive days of losses.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields saw their steepest weekly
decline in over seven years. The sell-off wrapped up a tumultuous week, which saw the
U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since
2008 and a renewal of trade war fears following a tweet by U.S.
President Donald Trump announcing plans to impose additional
tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports on Sept 1.
"The irony is that these trade policies are creating an
environment for the Fed to lend itself to further rate cuts,"
said Matthew Keator, managing partner at the Keator Group in
Lenox, Massachusetts. "But Trump is tweeting about hawkish trade
policies and the market is going down because of it."
A report from Labor Department on Friday showed that nonfarm
payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs last month, in line with
economists' expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 98.41 points,
or 0.37%, to 26,485.01, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 21.51 points, or
0.73%, to 2,932.05 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
107.05 points, or 1.32%, to 8,004.07.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, eight closed in the
red.
Technology companies .SPLRCT , which get a sizeable portion
of their revenue from China, were the hardest hit, falling 1.7%.
This sector was weighed by iPhone maker Apple Inc AAPL.O and
chipmakers.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX slipped 1.6%,
while shares of Apple fell 2.1%.
Second-quarter earnings season passed its halfway mark, with
380 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those,
73.9% have beaten analyst expectations.
New tariff threats dragged oil prices CLc1 lower for the
week, as Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N reported
quarterly results.
Exxon topped analyst expectations but fell year-on-year,
while Chevron's earnings rose 26%, in line with forecasts.
Sprint Corp S.N shares dropped 5.8% even after reporting
fewer-than-expected phone subscriber losses in the quarter.
Restaurant Brands International QSR.TO jumped 6.1%, after
quarterly profits topped expectations. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.77-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 20 new highs and 184 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.78 billion shares, compared
with the 6.62 billion average over the last 20 trading days.