Stocks mostly lower, break weekly streak

Stocks closed mostly lower Friday on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 lost 0.1% to end with its first weekly loss in the last three. Bank stocks fell.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%, falling for a second-straight week. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds edged higher, and FedEx shares soared to a threemonth high after the package delivery giant reported strong third-quarter earnings.

There are concerns that the rise in bond yields could be a harbinger of inflation. Federal Reserve officials said earlier this week that they may let the U.S. economy “run hot” for some time in order to not stymie the economic recovery as the pandemic eases.

On Friday the Fed announced it will restore some of the capital requirements for big banks that were suspended in the early months of the pandemic, in order to give banks flexibility. The banking industry had hoped those measures would be extended.

The announcement briefly raised concerns about more bond selling, but those fears have been tempered, said Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel.

“Overall, the very near term concerns are going back to some of the bigger picture questions,” he said. “How high can yields go and what does that mean for stock valuations.”

Big bank stocks were particularly hurt, since the Fed’s measures mostly apply to the nation’s largest banks. Citigroup fell 0.8%, while Bank of America fell 1.3% and JPMorgan Chase slid 2.7%.