S&P 500 notches 3rd straight weekly gain after wobbly day

“Some of the information we’ve gotten today hasn’t been all that impactful to kind of change the price action we saw this week.” Ioana Martin, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Wall Street finished a milestone-setting week on a downbeat note Friday after a late flurry of selling nudged stocks lower, ending the market’s four-day winning streak.

Even with the modest losses the market delivered its third straight weekly gain, with the benchmark S&P 500 index hovering just below its record high close from a day earlier.

That milestone, which eclipsed the benchmark index’s last record close on April 30, came amid a swift turnaround for stocks this month that has erased the losses from a steep sell-off in May. The major U.S. stock indexes are up more than 7 percent so far this month and are holding on to gains of more than 14 percent for the year.

Investors have been reassured by statements from the Federal Reserve this month that suggest the central bank is prepared to cut interest rates in response to a slowing global economy. At the same time, traders remain concerned that corporate profits might suffer should the kind of economic slowdown that would prompt the Fed to cut rates take hold.

A mixed batch of economic data on Friday didn’t have much of an impact on trading, which remained mostly muted as investors took a breather after a four-day rally.

“Some of the information we’ve gotten today hasn’t been all that impactful to kind of change the price action we saw this week,” said Ioana Martin, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

The S&P 500 index dipped 3.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,950.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34.04 points, or 0.1 percent, to 26,719.13. The Nasdaq composite fell 19.63 points, or 0.2 percent, to 8,031.71.

Smaller company stocks fared worse than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index slumped 13.87 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,549.63.

Major indexes in Europe fell.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.06 percent from 2 percent on Thursday.

Trading was wobbly for much of Friday as investors sized up a mixed batch of economic data. A report on manufacturing for June came in below analysts’ forecasts. A separate report was more encouraging, indicating that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased in May.