Stocks are Little Changed as Wall Street Takes a Pause After a Strong Week
Stocks were little changed on Friday in a pause from a strong performance this week, as investors weighed the latest on the global trade and inflation fronts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 17points, hovering below the flatline. The S&P 500 gained 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2%.
Stocks are on pace to end the week in the green, as sentiment improved after investors got more certainty around President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and from earlier inflation prints, which ultimately appeared better-than-expected. Traders shrugged off data released Friday that reflected a 0.9% slump in retail sales for January, worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.
Equity markets jumped during Thursday’s trading session after Trump signed a memorandum on laying out a plan to impose levies on goods from countries with duties on U.S. products, instead of implementing immediate tariffs. Shares of technology and semiconductor stocks also saw gains in the previous session.
Sentiment appeared to calm after January’s producer price index, as well as the consumer price index report released earlier this week, suggested a softer reading for the personal consumption expenditures price index. The PCE price index, which is due later this month, is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
Source : CNBC
