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US stocks ended nearly flat on Friday in a choppy session ahead of the long weekend, and all three major indexes posted losses for the week as fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off.
Healthcare (.SPXHC), opens new tab fell 0.8% and led declines for the day among S&P 500 sectors. Shares of chipmakers rose, with an index of semiconductors (.SOX), opens new tab gaining 1.2% and extending gains from Thursday.
Big US banks posted mostly solid results this week as the S&P 500 reporting period got under way. Still, shares of banks and other financial institutions have been pressured by worries over US President Donald Trump's proposed one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%. The S&P 500 financial sector (.SPSY), opens new tab ended up 0.1% on Friday but posted its biggest weekly percentage decline since October.
Investors also digested news that Trump said he may want to keep economic adviser Kevin Hassett in his current role, lowering market bets that Hassett would succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
"To finish the week around flat with the S&P 500 still within spitting distance of 7,000 - most investors will take that as a win two weeks into the year," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.
"One of the other reasons markets have been flat-lining is we're at the start of the earnings season," he said. "Bank earnings are showing a generally favorable economic and business backdrop. Now we're going to start seeing other companies tied to other sectors, and that's going to give us a better take on fundamental conditions."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 83.11 points, or 0.17%, to 49,359.33, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 4.46 points, or 0.06%, to 6,940.01 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab lost 14.63 points, or 0.06%, to 23,515.39.
For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.38%, the Nasdaq declined 0.66% and the Dow fell 0.29%.
The earnings season ramps up next week with reports from heavyweights including Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab and Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab.
Investors were also cautious of making big bets ahead of the long weekend, with the stock market shut on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
While stocks have largely traded in a relatively tight range in recent sessions, some options market participants expect more choppy price action in coming days following Friday's monthly options expiration.
"Historically the middle part of January tends to be pretty choppy," said Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
"Once we work our way through that, then we are likely to see a little bit better performance out to the end of the month. Hopefully, we'll find the month positive," which could suggest positive performance for the year, Zaro said.
The week also saw money shifting out of some heavyweight tech names into more undervalued areas, with mid- and small-cap stocks outperforming the benchmark S&P 500.
The small-cap Russell 2000 (.RUT), opens new tab reached another record closing high on Friday and gained 2.04% for the week.
Most of the major S&P 500 sector also ended with gains for the week, with real estate (.SPLRCR), opens new tab, consumer staples (.SPLRCS), opens new tab and industrials (.SPLRCI), opens new tab leading in weekly increases.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 423 new highs and 64 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,034 stocks rose and 2,719 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.34-to-1 ratio.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 18.77 billion shares, compared with the 16.85 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Healthcare (.SPXHC), opens new tab fell 0.8% and led declines for the day among S&P 500 sectors. Shares of chipmakers rose, with an index of semiconductors (.SOX), opens new tab gaining 1.2% and extending gains from Thursday.
Big US banks posted mostly solid results this week as the S&P 500 reporting period got under way. Still, shares of banks and other financial institutions have been pressured by worries over US President Donald Trump's proposed one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%. The S&P 500 financial sector (.SPSY), opens new tab ended up 0.1% on Friday but posted its biggest weekly percentage decline since October.
Investors also digested news that Trump said he may want to keep economic adviser Kevin Hassett in his current role, lowering market bets that Hassett would succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
"To finish the week around flat with the S&P 500 still within spitting distance of 7,000 - most investors will take that as a win two weeks into the year," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.
"One of the other reasons markets have been flat-lining is we're at the start of the earnings season," he said. "Bank earnings are showing a generally favorable economic and business backdrop. Now we're going to start seeing other companies tied to other sectors, and that's going to give us a better take on fundamental conditions."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 83.11 points, or 0.17%, to 49,359.33, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 4.46 points, or 0.06%, to 6,940.01 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab lost 14.63 points, or 0.06%, to 23,515.39.
For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.38%, the Nasdaq declined 0.66% and the Dow fell 0.29%.
The earnings season ramps up next week with reports from heavyweights including Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab and Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab.
Investors were also cautious of making big bets ahead of the long weekend, with the stock market shut on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
While stocks have largely traded in a relatively tight range in recent sessions, some options market participants expect more choppy price action in coming days following Friday's monthly options expiration.
"Historically the middle part of January tends to be pretty choppy," said Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
"Once we work our way through that, then we are likely to see a little bit better performance out to the end of the month. Hopefully, we'll find the month positive," which could suggest positive performance for the year, Zaro said.
The week also saw money shifting out of some heavyweight tech names into more undervalued areas, with mid- and small-cap stocks outperforming the benchmark S&P 500.
The small-cap Russell 2000 (.RUT), opens new tab reached another record closing high on Friday and gained 2.04% for the week.
Most of the major S&P 500 sector also ended with gains for the week, with real estate (.SPLRCR), opens new tab, consumer staples (.SPLRCS), opens new tab and industrials (.SPLRCI), opens new tab leading in weekly increases.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 423 new highs and 64 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,034 stocks rose and 2,719 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.34-to-1 ratio.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 18.77 billion shares, compared with the 16.85 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
