Stocks shake off wobbly start, end mostly higher

Stocks shrugged off a sluggish start and ended mostly higher on Wall Street Friday.

The S&P 500 managed a gain of 0.3%, but still posted its first weekly loss in four weeks.

Facebook led gains in communications stocks. Intel fell sharply after reporting weakness in its data center business, pulling the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a small loss.

Stocks have mostly pushed higher this month after giving back some of their big gains this year in a sudden September swoon. Treasury yields remained near their highest level since June

More recently, trading on Wall Street has been choppy as investors keep an eye on the ongoing negotiations between Republican and Democractic leaders in Washington over another round of aid for businesses and millions of people who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic. The last round of supplemental aid for unemployed Americans expired at the end of July.

“It’s generally been a little more of a selling market, and a lot of that has to do with waiting to see whether or not we get a fiscal stimulus package before the election,” said Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ. “The odds of that are getting lower and lower the closer we get to the election.”

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been negotiating daily this week on a possible aid package. Any compromise will likely face stiff resistance from Republicans in the Senate.