Stocks end mostly flat as investors take profits; oil rises
Wall Street capped a record-setting week with a day of mostly listless trading Friday that left the three major U.S. stock indexes essentially flat.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed slightly lower. The Nasdaq composite eked out a tiny gain, giving the tech-heavy index its fourth record-high close in a week.
Investors focused mostly on the latest batch of company earnings from retailers and others, as well as new data indicating that U.S. retail sales in July were more sluggish than expected.
Materials companies fell the most. Energy stocks led the gainers, as crude oil prices rose again.
Although the retail sales data may have dimmed some traders’ views on the economy, most of the selling probably was a reflection of some investors locking in profits while the market remains near its all-time high, said JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief strategist.
“It’s a summer Friday on a week that we were higher,” Kinahan said. “It’s more of a ‘Why take unnecessary risks? Take some profits, go home happy.’ ”
The Dow fell 37.05 points, or 0.2%, to 18,576.47. The S&P 500 fell 1.74 points, or 0.1%, to 2,184.05. The declines pulled both indexes slightly below their most recent all-time highs set Thursday.
The Nasdaq bucked the trend, rising 4.49 points, or 0.1%, to 5,232.89. The Nasdaq also closed at a record high last Friday, Tuesday and Thursday. It’s now up 11% over the past seven weeks, the longest winning streak for the index in more than four years.
So far this year, the Dow is up 6.6%, the S&P 500 has gained 6.9% and the Nasdaq is up 4.5%.
Strong job growth, more stable oil prices and a crop of better-than-expected company earnings have helped lift stocks in recent weeks to record territory.
This week, investors had their eye on the health of retailers. They welcomed the latest quarterly snapshots for Macy’s, Kohl’s and Nordstrom, sending those shares higher earlier in the week. Some of that continued Friday as traders cheered results from Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and Dillard’s.
Nordstrom surged 8% to $51.38 a day after the department store chain reported earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company also raised its profit guidance for the year.
J.C. Penney jumped 6.1% to $10.55 after the chain said a pickup in sales helped trim its second-quarter loss from a year earlier. Dillard’s rose 3.4% to $68.67 after the retailer posted a second-quarter profit that was larger than analysts expected.
Even so, the government’s latest retail sales figures appeared to dampen on some of that optimism.
The Commerce Department said that U.S. retail sales held steady in July from the previous month, as Americans spent less at grocery stores, clothing shops, sporting goods and electronics and appliance outlets. Those declines were offset by big increases in auto sales and on online and catalog sales.
Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices posted the biggest drop last month since September, pulled down by tumbling energy, clothing and food prices. Inflation remains modest at both producer and consumer levels.
Despite the downbeat economic data, the market spent much of the day hovering just below its all-time highs.
“It’s very understandable that people are not particularly keen to rush into buying at these historically high levels,” said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. “Add in this economic data that leans to the weaker side, and it’s not surprising that the market is off a little bit.”
California companies making big moves included Silicon Graphics International, which jumped 28.6% to $7.69 after Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed to buy the Milpitas, Calif.-based computer equipment and services company for $7.75 a share, or about $281 million.
Sunrun climbed 15.2% to $6.23 after the San Francisco company said it installed more solar panels than it expected in the second quarter.
Industrial and drilling companies were among the biggest decliners. Transocean slid the most among stocks in the S&P 500, falling 4.5% to $9.90. Steel products manufacturer Nucor sank 3.2% to $50.69. Alcoa declined 2.4% to $10.17.
Oil prices added to recent gains. Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1, or 2.3%, to $44.49 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 93 cents, or 2%, to $46.97 a barrel in London.
Wholesale gasoline rose a penny to $1.37 a gallon. Heating oil rose 2 cents to $1.41 a gallon. Natural gas rose 3 cents to $2.58 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The major stock indexes in Europe closed mostly lower. The DAX index in Germany fell 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1%, and Britain’s FTSE was flat.
Earlier, the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8% after China reported retail sales and factory output increased sharply in July from a year earlier, though they were down from June 2016’s levels. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index rose 1.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% and India’s Sensex gained 1%. Markets in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
Gold and other precious metals declined. Gold slid $6.70, or 0.5%, to $1,335.80 an ounce. Silver lost 32 cents, or 1.6%, to $19.70 an ounce. Copper fell 5 cents, or 2.3%, to $2.14 a pound.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.51% from 1.56%. The dollar weakened to 101.27 yen from 101.93 yen. The euro strengthened to $1.1164 from $1.1141.
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UPDATES:
2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with closing prices and additional information.
This article was originally published at 8:55 a.m.
