Wall Street slips as caution takes over ahead of French election

U.S. stocks slipped on Friday as investors refrained from taking heavy positions ahead of Sunday's first-round of the presidential election in France. 

"Nobody is taking anything for granted after the big swing and miss in Britain and the big swing and a miss here," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, told Reuters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 30.95 points, or 0.15%, to 20,547.76, the S&P 500 fell 7 points, or 0.30%, to 2,348.69 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 6.26 points, or 0.11%, to 5,910.52. On a weekly basis, however, after three consecutive weeks of losses, three major indexes were able to record gains amid positive earning reports from big corporations. The Dow advanced 0.5%, while the S&P rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq gained 1.8%.

Headlines from the U.S. session

• U.S. President Trump's tax plan likely will not include border-adjusted tax - BBG
• When is the French presidential election and how could affect the EUR?
• Trump will unveil tax plan next week, includes "massive" tax cut - AP
• Overall compliance with oil output curbs at 98 pct in March - Reuters
• Fed's Fischer: Depreciating dollar 'is of some help' to U.S. economy
• Fed's Kashkari: It's too soon to predict what tax, regulatory reforms will be