Stocks notch weekly gain
U.S. stocks closed modestly lower Friday, ending just short of another milestone for Wall Street.
The Nasdaq composite index narrowly missed its fourth record-high close this week, though all the major indexes still notched weekly gains.
Phone companies, banks and materials stocks were among the big decliners. Tech stocks gained the most, while health care and energy also bucked the broader market slide.
Investors continued to focus on company earnings reports as they mine for insight into the health of Corporate America. So far, earnings have been mostly exceeding Wall Street’s expectations.
But an unimpressive report on economic growth in the first quarter may have given some traders pause. The Labor Department said that the U.S. economy turned in its weakest performance in three years in the January-March quarter, reflecting a consumer spending slowdown.
“The market is worried that the second quarter perhaps will see continued weakness, and that’s part of the tug-of-war we’re seeing in the market,” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. “Are we going to see the economy snapping out of this weak patch?”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 4.57 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,384.20. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40.82 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,940.51. The Nasdaq composite lost 1.33 points, or 0.02 percent, to 6,047.61.
Small-company stocks fell more than the rest of the market.
“Earnings have been topping expectations for the most part, but overall, the market is still nervous about growth and whether or not we’re going to see a pickup in economic releases,” Krosby said. “The market remains nervous about geopolitical risk and remains nervous about tax reform.”