The Dow Jones industrial average fell for the fifth straight day, slipping 8.50 points to 5,649.45. However, the week-long slide has amounted to less than 50 points overall.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a margin of almost 4-to-3 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,003 up, 1,321 down and 794 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 385.92 million shares vs. 390.89 million in the previous session.
Broader measures also were negative, with the Nasdaq market showing the worst loss after another slide in technology stocks.
The NYSE composite fell 0.89 to 357.19, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was off 2.07 at 665.85.
The Nasdaq composite dropped 11.59 to 1,214.06, and the American Stock Exchange's market value index fell 2.88 to 593.85.
It was the second straight session that stocks slipped against an improving bond market, where interest rates continued to back away from 13-month highs set earlier in the week. Despite Friday's gains, however, bonds still have not fully recovered from their slide following the surprisingly strong report on May employment.
In Friday's trading, bonds recovered from an overnight slide, with the yield on the 30-year Treasury dipping toward 7.08 percent from this week's high of 7.20 percent.