U.S. stocks slid on Friday as investors booked profits in the wake of a recent surge, and bank shares dropped after several bank executives indicated March had been a tougher month than the previous two.

After the meeting with President Barack Obama, JPMorgan Chase & Co's Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said that March was a little tough in comments to CNBC.

Bank of America Corp's top executive added to the sour mood surrounding banks when he said the No. 1 U.S. bank's trading book lagged the two prior months in March.

Given that's kind of where this rally started in the second week of the month with Citigroup and Bank of America indicating they had a good first two months (of 2009), it would make sense that his comments would have a negative impact, said Peter Jankovskis, director of research at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

Citigroup fell 6.1 percent to $2.64 while JPMorgan Chase shed 4.2 percent to $27.99. The KBW bank index <.BKX>, fell 2.1 percent on the day, but the index remains up nearly 58 percent from its March 6 low.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 128.07 points, or 1.62 percent, to 7,796.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> slid 13.11 points, or 1.57 percent, to 819.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 32.82 points, or 2.07 percent, to 1,554.18.

Tumbling oil prices sank energy shares as well, putting Exxon Mobil and Chevron among the Dow's top drags.

Aside from another rush of bad banking news, traders pointed to profit-taking as another key factor for the pullback.

The recent rally has taken the broad S&P 500 index up more than 20 percent since it hit a 12-year low on March 9, although it is off nearly 10 percent for the year so far.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron fell nearly 2 percent as U.S. crude futures fell 3.6 percent to $52.36 per barrel amid economic concerns and a stronger U.S. dollar, after closing at a four-month high on Thursday.

Stocks had rallied amid increasing optimism that the worst of the current downturn might be over as well as government action geared at stabilizing the ailing financial system.

Heading into the day's session, the S&P 500 was at its most overbought position since May 2008, according to its 50-day relative strength index.

Gains on Thursday had helped push the Nasdaq back into positive territory in the year-to-date, but a decline in big-cap technology shares pulled the index back in the red on Friday.

Shares of Intel dropped 2.5 percent to $15.43 after the chipmaker said it might issue up to $1 billion in stock. Other standout decliners were Apple , down 2.7 percent to $106.88, and Microsoft , down 2.9 percent to $18.29.

IBM , up 11.3 percent this year, was the top drag in the Dow industrials, falling 5.4 percent to $93.49.

A drop in commodities prices weighed on stocks in the materials sector, and aluminum producer Alcoa fell 3.8 percent to $7.80. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index of commodities <.CRB> shed 2.31 percent.

General Motors was a bright spot, up 5.9 percent to $3.61 a day after Obama said a plan to help the struggling U.S. auto industry would be unveiled soon, and after news GM's German unit, Opel, forecast what could be the best quarterly results in a decade.

Investment Jpmorgan chase Barack obama Citigroup