Wall Street ends lower as utilities weigh

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Friday, led by declines in shares of utilities as investors weighed prospects for an interest rate increase in the coming months.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 45.13 points, or 0.24 percent, to 18,552.57, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 3.15 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,183.87 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 1.77 points, or 0.03 percent, to 5,238.38.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by James Dalgleish)