NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks continued to drop on Friday as market sentiment was dampened by mixed economic data and geopolitical concerns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 244.56 points, or 0.88 percent, to 27,657.42. The S&P 500 dropped 37.54 points, or 1.12 percent, to 3,319.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 116.99 points, or 1.07 percent, to 10,793.28.

All of the 11 sectors under S&P 500 suffered losses led by real estate, utilities and materials sectors.

U.S. Department of Commerce's announcement to block downloads of popular TikTok and WeChat apps starting from Sunday underlined policy uncertainties and dampened investors' sentiment.

Meanwhile, mixed economic data issued on Friday also offer no support to the bulls.

The United States posted 170.5 billion U.S. dollars of deficit in its current account in the second quarter much higher than 159 billion U.S. dollars of market consensus and 111.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2020, according to a release by the Department of Commerce on Friday.

The index of leading economic indicators expanded 1.2 percent month on month in August, lower than 1.3 percent of market expectation and 2 percent in July, according to the data issued by the Conference Board on Friday.

Still, U.S. consumer sentiment index rose to 78.9 in September in comparison with 74.1 in August and market expectation of 75, according to preliminary survey results issued by University of Michigan's Consumer Survey Center on Friday.

U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower, with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.

"We remain short-term cautious on equities and industrial commodities because the economic recovery is proving underwhelming in many countries and there are a number of potential risks ahead," said a report issued by macroeconomic research firm MRB Partners.

U.S. bourses are likely to underperform its peers in other countries though a positive economic outcome would appear and global stock markets are expected to move higher ultimately, according to MRB Partners. Enditem

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