U.S. stocks post small gains for the 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 consumercentric 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.

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.

Technology companies led the gainers Friday. Chipmaker Nvidia was a standout, jumping 7 percent after it handily beat analysts’ profit forecasts for the fourth quarter.

The real estate and utilities sectors also held up well as government bond yields fell, making companies that pay higher dividends more attractive.

Auto manufacturers, retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending were among the decliners.