U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday to finish the week lower and ending their three-week winning streak, despite a rise in retail sales as data showed a decline in consumer sentiment amid worries of rising inflation and a jump in coronavirus cases. All the three major indexes ended in negative territory.How Did The Benchmarks Perform?The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slid 0.9% or 299.17 points to end at 34,687.85 points.The S&P 500 declined 0.8% or 32.87 points to close at 4,327.16 points, as energy and financial stocks took a hit.The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) decline 2.8%, while the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) fell 1.3%. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index closed in negative territory.The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 0.8% or 115.90 points to end at 14,427.24 points. Most of the big tech players took a hit with shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Apple, Inc. AAPL declining 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. Apple has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 8.47% to 18.45. A total of 9.3 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.3 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.42-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.Low Consumer Sentiment Take a Toll on MarketsInvestors have been feeling jittery despite upbeat corporate earnings data. On Friday University of Michigan’s survey showed a decline in consumer sentiment in the first half of July, which further dented investors’ confidence. The survey shows that consumers now are readying for a 4.8% rise in cost of living this year, the highest since 2008.The decline comes amid concerns of rising inflation, which has put pressure on the standard of living of millions of middle and lower-middle class people. This has seen people cut down on spending on discretionary goods. The low sentiment took a toll on markets on Friday, with shares plummeting.Also, despite more people getting vaccinated, rising cases of new COVID-19 infections as the fast spreading of the Delta variant has once again ignited fears in the mind of people. This has been making investors’ shaky once again, thus impacting markets.Economic DataThe consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan came in at 80.8% for the first half of July, declining from 85.5 recorded in June.Meanwhile, retail sales increased 0.6% increase in June, beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.4% decline.Weekly RoundupFor the week, all three indexes fell, ending their three-week winning streak. The Dow declined 0.5%, while the S&P 500 fell 1%. The Nasdaq slid 1.9% for the week. However, despite this week’s decline, the Dow is still up 13% for the year, while the S&P 500 is up 15% for the year. The Dow and S&P 500 are sitting 1.15% and 1.51%, respectively, from their all-time highs. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.