Stocks post small gains, indexes up for week
Wall Street closed out a wobbly day of trading Friday with the major stock indexes notching their second straight weekly gain.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out tiny gains, good enough to nudge each to an all-time high for the fourth time this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a slight loss.
Gains in the technology, real estate and utilities sectors outweighed losses in energy and industrial stocks, and in consumer-centric companies.
Trading was mostly subdued and cautious following China’s report Thursday of a surge in cases of a new virus that raised fresh concerns about global economic growth.
“We were flat for most of the day,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “But you’re also seeing that there is concern. Gold is up, money has come into the bond market and the yields have come down.”
The mixed finish for the indexes likely indicates some traders elected to sell and pocket some profits ahead of the long holiday weekend to get ahead of potential negative headlines about the virus, analysts said. U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the President’s Day holiday.
The S&P 500 index rose 6.22 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,380.16. The Nasdaq composite gained 19.21 points, or 0.2 percent, to 9,731.18. Both indexes had been down most of the afternoon.
The Dow dropped 25.23 points, or 0.1 percent, to 29,398.08.
Smaller company stocks finished lower. The Russell 2000 index slid 6.15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,687.58.
European and Asian markets ended mixed.
Investors had largely set aside uncertainty about the potential economic fallout from the virus outbreak that originated in China the past two weeks. Stocks ended lower on Thursday for only the second time this month.
Businesses have been hurting due to the outbreak and more of them are warning that the effects will linger through the year.
Still, uncertainty over the economic impact of the outbreak has been tempered by signals out of China’s government, which has taken steps to shore up businesses from the fallout.
The Federal Reserve has also helped reassure investors. This week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said it was too early to assess the threat the virus poses to the U.S. economy, but he noted that the economy “is in a very good place” with strong job creation and moderate growth.
Investors are heading into a shortened week that is light on economic reports. Stock and bond markets are closed on Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday. On Wednesday, the government will issue its report on producer prices, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers. Also, the Federal Reserve will release minutes from its January meeting.
Wall Street will also get some updates on the health of the housing industry. The government will release data on housing starts on Wednesday and the National Association of Realtors will release January home sales data on Friday.