Stocks end mixed as bond yields fall

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

The S&P 500 posted a 0.3% loss for the week. It’s still within half a percent of its record, though, and the market continues to make only modest moves through what has become a weekslong lull.

The biggest loss in the S&P 500 came from Nordstrom, which plunged 10.8% to $41.20 after it said a key sales figure weakened last quarter by more than analysts expected. Nordstrom joined a long list of department store chains that have reported discouraging results recently as their customers head online.

J.C. Penney dived 14% to $4.55 after it reported a loss for its latest quarter and weaker revenue than analysts expected.

The broader market, though, was much more pacific. It was the 13th straight day that the S&P 500 moved less than 0.5%, the longest such streak since 1995.

“It’s extremely calm, which always makes us a little nervous,” said Eric Marshall, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management. “We’re in a very narrow market and a very thin market: It’s hard to buy things, and it’s hard to sell things because the amount of trading volume out there has slowed down in recent weeks.”

The market has grown sleepier as companies have reported stronger-than-expected profits and as encouraging data lifted optimism about the global economy. The calm also comes despite a spate of political jolts, including concerns about how successful Republicans in Washington will be at pushing through the pro-business changes that many investors expect.

Bond yields dropped as Treasury prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.32% from 2.40%. The two-year yield fell to 1.28% from 1.34%, and the 30-year yield fell to 2.99% from 3.03%.

Bank stocks have recently been trading in the opposite direction of Treasury yields because a pickup in interest rates would enable banks to make bigger profits from making loans.

Financial stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.5%. On the winning side were utilities, whose relatively big dividends look more attractive when bonds are paying less in interest.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose a penny to $47.84 a barrel. Brent crude rose 7 cents to $50.84 a barrel. Natural gas rose 5 cents to $3.42 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil was flat at $1.49 a gallon and wholesale gasoline rose a penny to $1.58 a gallon.

Gold rose $3.50 to $1,227.70 an ounce, silver rose 14 cents to $16.40 an ounce and copper rose 2 cents to $2.52 a pound.

The euro rose to $1.0931 from $1.0866. The dollar fell to 113.29 yen from 113.88 yen, and the British pound fell to $1.2886 from $1.2890.