Shares of banks and other financial institutions declined as volatility surged.

The CBOE volatility index, known as the VIX, or fear gauge, surged by roughly 18%.

One veteran Wall Street strategist said he anticipates a stock-market correction this year, and Friday's selloff could mark the beginning of one. Still, the current selloff, sparked by economic fears, is unlikely to balloon into a bear market because the Federal Reserve would respond swiftly to any further deterioration in economic data, said veteran strategist Jim Paulsen.

A recession scare "would bring the policy cavalry to the party and, not only that, but it would then be a policy juicer when everyone's hunkered down and conservative and shoring up their finances getting a little less over-extended," said Paulsen.

Investors awaited confirmation from Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders that the legendary investor still saw scant opportunity for the $300 billion in cash and Treasurys his Berkshire Hathaway firm in the third quarter. That's the highest level of cash relative to the firm's assets since 1998, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Regulators have agreed to drop a lawsuit against Coinbase that sought to regulate the cryptocurrency firm as a stock exchange, marking the end of years of hard-line enforcement against the crypto market.

British bank Standard Chartered reported a drop in fourth-quarter net profit and said it will start a $1.5 billion share buyback, sending the stock to a new near-decade high.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2025 18:03 ET (23:03 GMT)

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