U.S. stocks closed lower Friday, ending the month of August that was not kind to Wall Street. In U.S. economic news, the Dow and the S&P 500 lost between 3 percent and 4.5 percent in August, but they are still up between 13 percent and 15 percent for the year. The Nasdaq held up better in August, dropping only 1 percent. The tech-heavy index has gained nearly 19 percent year-to-date. Speculation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may cut back on, or taper, its monthly bond purchases as soon as September has made investors nervous. In corporate news, Salesforce.com shares shot up after the cloud-based software company reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings after the closing bell Thursday. Krispy Kreme shares dove 15 percent after the doughnut maker missed earnings estimates and lowered its full-year guidance late Thursday. Still, the stock has more than doubled in 2013. Apache soared after it announced it was selling a 33 percent stake of its oil and gas holdings in Egypt to China's Sinopec for $3.1 billion. The dollar lost ground against the euro, the pound, and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery lost $1.15 to $107.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped $16.80 to $1,396.10 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.64, or 0.21 percent, to 14,810.31. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 5.2, or 0.32 percent, to 1,632.97. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 30.43, or 0.84 percent, to 3,589.87.
