Wall Street closes out another winning week with mixed finish

Wall Street closed its 10th winning week in the last 11 with a mixed finish Friday after an encouraging report on inflation.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 edged up by 0.1% as earnings reporting season kicked off with mixed results from Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and others. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3%, dragged down by a sharp loss for UnitedHealth Group. The Nasdaq composite was basically flat, rising by less than 0.1%.

Stocks have been roaring toward records for months, pulling the S&P 500 within 0.3% of its all-time high, on hopes that inflation is cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year.

Treasury yields have already sunk in the bond market on those expectations, and they fell further after a report showed inflation at the U.S. wholesale level was weaker last month than economists expected. The data bolstered expectations for rate cuts a day after another report had shown inflation was warmer at the consumer level than expected.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.94% from nearly 4% just before the report’s release. In October, it was above 5% and at its highest level since 2007. Easier rates and yields relax the pressure on the economy and financial system, while boosting prices for investments.

The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 4.17% from 4.27% before the wholesale inflation report’s release. Traders rebuilt bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in March, according to data from CME Group.

Traders are largely betting on the Fed cutting its main interest rate at least six times through 2024. That would be a much more aggressive track than the Fed itself has hinted. Fed officials have even cautioned they may raise rates further if inflation refuses to buckle convincingly toward their target of 2%. The federal funds rate is already at its highest level since 2001.

“The danger of Fed finetuning is that they could be fiddling while the economy is burning down,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “If they’re data-dependent, that means they’re looking in the rearview mirror. Now they need to shift their gaze forward through the windshield.”

Interest rates are one of the main levers that set where stock prices are. The other is how much profit companies are making, and analysts expect the S&P 500 to deliver a second straight quarter of growth after earlier faltering under the weight of high inflation.

The reporting season for the end of 2023 unofficially got underway Friday with a bevy of reports from banks.

JPMorgan Chase dipped 0.7% after reporting weaker results for the last three months of 2023 than expected.

UnitedHealth Group fell 3.4% despite topping analysts’ profit forecasts. Medical costs for the healthcare giant soared, worrying investors.

Delta Air Lines sank 9% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the final three months of 2023 than analysts had forecast. The carrier gave a forecasted range indicating its upcoming full-year profit could be below what analysts had been expecting.

The airline and other travel-related companies were also hurt by the jump in oil prices, which puts pressure on their fuel costs. United Airlines fell 10.6%, and Norwegian Cruise Line lost 4.3%.

Crude oil prices climbed on worries about potential disruptions to supplies after Yemen’s Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation for U.S. and British strikes against them. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 66 cents to $72.68. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 88 cents to $78.29 a barrel.

That helped stocks of energy companies to lead the S&P 500 with an overall gain of 1.3%. Valero Energy rose 2.7%, and Marathon Oil climbed 2%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 3.59 points to 4,783.83. The Dow fell 118.04 points to 37,592.98, and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.57 points to 14,972.76.

In markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% to cap a week of strong gains that took it to levels unseen since 1990, when the country’s bubble economy was beginning to deflate. Indexes were lower in much of the rest of Asia but higher in Europe.