US stocks fell on Friday with the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent after sinking as much as 1.1 percent earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 179 points, or 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.9 percent.

The value of the US dollar rallied but only after swivelling a couple times following Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh.

And some of the wildest action was again in precious metals markets, where gold and silver prices plunged following their stellar runs over the last year.

On Wall Street, stocks of metals miners tumbled as the price of gold dropped 11.4 percent to settle at US$4,745.10 per ounce. Gold’s price suddenly ran out of momentum following a tremendous rally where it roughly doubled over 12 months. It topped US$5,000 for the first time on Monday and was around US$5,600 at one point on Thursday.

Silver, which had been on a similar, jaw-dropping tear, fell even more. It plunged 31.4 percent.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 29.98 points to 6,939.03. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179.09 to 48,892.47, and the Nasdaq composite sank 223.30 to 23,461.82. (AP)