Stocks listless after milestones
Wall Street capped a week of milestones Friday with a day of listless trading that left U.S. stock indexes mostly lower.
Energy companies declined the most as the price of crude oil fell. Healthcare stocks posted the biggest gain. Quarterly results from big companies continued to be in focus. Bond yields fell after the government reported the economy lost momentum last quarter.
More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. This week all three major indexes set all-time highs, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which stayed above the 20,000 mark after crossing that threshold for the first time Wednesday.
“We’ve had an OK week,” said Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmede. “Having a day when you just give back a little bit is not a bad thing.”
Small-company stocks did worse than the rest of the market Friday. The Russell 2000 fell 4.89 points, or 0.4%, to 1,370.70.
In addition to the report on the U.S. economy’s growth, the government released a report showing that businesses spent more on industrial machinery, semiconductors and other bigticket items last month, a sign that U.S. manufacturers are doing better after a two-year slump.
The economic snapshots sent bond prices higher. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.48% from 2.51%.
Starbucks slid 4% to $56.12 a day after the coffee chain reported weak sales growth and cut its sales forecast for the year.
Chevron also turned in weaker-than-expected results. The San Ramon, Calif., oil company was the biggest decliner in the Dow, falling 2.4% to $113.79.
Colgate-Palmolive tumbled 5.2% to $64.68 after its fourth-quarter sales missed analysts’ estimates. Its 2017 forecast also disappointed.
Microsoft rose 2.4% to $65.78, making it the biggest gainer in the Dow. The software giant reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, largely due to its focus on online services and business software.
Wynn Resorts surged 8% to $103.08 after it reported revenue that beat Wall Street’s forecasts.
So far, 33.8% of the companies in the S&P 500 index have reported quarterly results for the last three months of 2016, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. It said 40% of those have posted results that beat analysts’ forecasts.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 1.1% to $53.17 a barrel. Brent crude slid 1.3% to $55.52 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $1.53 a gallon, while heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.62 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 1 cent to $3.39 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The dollar strengthened to 115.09 yen from 114.42 yen. The euro rose to $1.0698 from $1.0692. Gold slipped $1.40 to $1,188.40 an ounce. Silver rose 29 cents to $17.14 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents to $2.70 a pound.
Many Asian countries began holidays of varying lengths, curtailing trading across much of the region.