Stocks end mixed, still notch weekly gains
Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading Friday with an uneven finish for the major stock indexes, as losses for several large technology companies weighed on the market.
The S&P 500 was little changed a day after it set an all-time high, but the 0.1% slip ended its seven-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a 0.2% gain, good enough to eclipse the blue-chip index’s previous record high set on Aug. 16. The techheavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.8%.
Some 65% of stocks in the S&P 500 closed higher, led mainly by financial and health care companies, but losses in communication and technology companies, which have an outsized weight on the benchmark index, held the S&P 500 down. Despite the downbeat finish to the week, the three major indexes posted their third weekly gain in a row. Investors have been reviewing corporate earnings over the last two weeks and the mostly solid results have helped stocks generally grind higher.
Remarks Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared to put traders in a selling mood. Powell said that the supply chain issues that have caused disruptions across the U.S. economy since this summer have gotten worse and will likely keep inflation elevated well into next year.
The S&P 500 slipped 4.88 points to 4,544.90. The Dow gained 73.94 points to 35,677.02. The Nasdaq slid 125.50 points, or 0.8%, to 15,090.20.
Small company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 index fell 4.92 points, or 0.2%, to 2,291.27.
Bond yields edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.64% from 1.67%.
With corporate earnings reporting season in full swing, investors have been looking for clues as to how companies are navigating supply chain problems and rising costs for materials, transportation and other goods and services.