NEW YORK: US stocks on Friday closed a downcast week on a sour note, declining amid relentless partisan squabbling over a budget bill to avert a partial US government shutdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 70.06 points (0.46 percent) at 15,258.24. The broad-based SandP 500 lost 6.92 points (0.41 percent) at 1,691.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 5.83 points (0.15 percent) at 3,781.59.

The Democratic-led Senate on Friday approved a temporary budget bill to fund government operations at the start of the 2014 fiscal year Tuesday.

But the measure, which goes to the House of Representatives, does not defund President Barack Obama's health-care law, a prime objective of House Republicans.

With no compromise in sight, Obama told a White House news conference that Congress must pass a bill to fund the government and failure to do so would destabilize the world economy.

Traders were reluctant to buy shares on Friday with such uncertainty, said Art Hogan, head of product strategy for equity research at Lazard Capital Markets.

"The safety trade is going to be to pare back," Hogan said. "Traders are saying 'let's not go into the weekend with a lot of exposure in the off-chance that something bad happens.'"

Dow component Microsoft rose 1.5 percent after the technology website All Things D reported that Ford Motor Co. chief executive Alan Mulally is the front-runner to become the company's next CEO. Ford shares fell 1.3 percent.

Sport apparel giant Nike, which joined the Dow Monday, jumped 4.7 percent after quarterly earnings of 86 cents per share came in 8 cents above forecasts. The company reported strong sales in much of Europe.

Slumping department store chain JC Penney tumbled 13.2 percent after announcing it was selling 84 million shares, a day after saying it had enough capital for its restructuring plan.

Airline giant United sank 9.3 percent after projecting that its passenger revenue per available seat mile, a widely watched benchmark, would rise 2.5-3.5 percent in the coming quarter, below expectations. The data suggests a possible "return to underperformance," said Barclays.

Consultancy company Accenture lost 2.4 percent after earnings met expectations, but booking guidance of US$32 billion-US$35 billion for the upcoming fiscal year "suggests a slow cyclical recovery," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch. -- AFP