S&P 500 index slips, posts first down week in a month

Shares of department stores sink again Friday

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Shares of department stores sank again Friday, hurt by more evidence that shoppers are turning away from them. A drop in Treasuryyields also put pressure on bank stocks, and the weakness helped pull the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its first weekly loss in thelast four.

TheS&P 500 dipped 3.54 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 2,390.90, part ofa 0.3 percent loss for the week. The index is still within half-a-percent of its record, though, and the market continues to make only modest moves through what’s become a weekslong,peaceful lull.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 22.81 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,896.61, and the Nasdaq composite rose 5.27 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,121.23. Small-company stocks fell more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index lost 7.43 points,or 0.5 percent, to 1,382.77.

The biggest loss in the S&P 500 came from Nordstrom, which plunged $5.01, or 10.8 percent, to $41.20 after it said a key sales figure weakenedlast quarter by more than analysts expected. Nordstrom joined a long list of other department-store chains that reported discouraging results, as their customersincreasingly head online.

J.C. Penney fell 74 cents, or 14 percent, to $4.55 after it reported a loss forits latest quarter and weaker revenuethan analysts expected.

Thebroader market, though, was much more tranquil. It was the 13th straight day that the S&P 500 moved by less than 0.5 percent, the longest suchstreak since 1995.

The market has grown sleepier as firms report stronger-than-expected profits and as encouraging data lift optimism about the global economy. The calmness also comes despite a spate of political jolts, including concerns about how successful Republicans will be at pushing through pro-business changes thatmany investors are expecting.

A government report Friday showed that shoppers picked up their spending at auto dealers, hardware stores and online shops last month, and retail sales rose 0.4 percent from March. That was below economists’ expectations, but it’s an acceleration from weak levels registered earlier in the year. It also may be an indication that the economy will indeed pick up from its earlyyear torpor, as many economists predict.

Financial stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent, second-most among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

On the winning side were utilities, whose relatively big dividends look more attractive when bonds arepaying less in interest.