U.S. stocks close lower

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 878.82 points, or 1.9 percent, to 45,479.6. The Standard and Poor's 500 sank 182.6 points, or 2.71 percent, to 6,552.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 820.2 points, or 3.56 percent, to close at 22,204.43.

Ten of the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors ended lower, with technology and consumer discretionary leading the laggards by dropping 3.97 percent and 3.29 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer staples bucked the trend by going up 0.25 percent.

U.S. consumer sentiment remained broadly unchanged in early October despite the ongoing federal government shutdown, concerns about the labor market and persistent inflation, according to a University of Michigan (UM) survey released Friday.

"Pocketbook issues like high prices and weakening job prospects remain at the forefront of consumers' minds," said Joanne Hsu, director of the UM's monthly Surveys of Consumers. "Meanwhile, interviews reveal little evidence that the ongoing federal government shutdown has moved consumers' views of the economy thus far."

China's software and information technology services industry saw a rapid expansion in the first two months of this year, reporting double-digit growth in terms of revenues, official data showed Tuesday.

In the January-February period, the total revenue of the software sector rose 11.7 percent year on year to more than 2.15 trillion yuan (about 311.83 billion U.S. dollars), while the total profits climbed 7.3 percent to 269.3 billion yuan, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Software exports increased by 12.7 percent on a yearly basis.

Software products registered steady growth in revenue in the two months, accounting for 21.9 percent of the industry's total revenue. Information technology services maintained double-digit growth and raked in roughly 1.45 trillion yuan in revenue, taking up 67.2 percent of the industry's total revenue.