Fresh revelations about Boeing and Johnson & Johnson weighed on the Dow Friday as U.S. stocks retreated.

Boeing sank 6.8 percent after new documents in an investigation of the 737 MAX suggested company pilots knew in 2016 of problems with a system blamed for two deadly crashes that have grounded the plane.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) tumbled 6.2 percent as the health giant undertook a recall of "a single" lot of baby powder due to trace levels of asbestos contamination. The announcement came with the company facing litigation over a number of products, including talcum powder.

The health giant said on Friday it is recalling around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after U.S. health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online.

The move marks the first time the company has recalled its iconic baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma.

The recall is the latest blow to the more than 130-year-old U.S. healthcare conglomerate that is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, including baby powder, opioids, medical devices, and the antipsychotic Risperdal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.0 percent to 26,770.20.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent to 2,986.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.8 percent to 8,089.54.

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)