Wall Street is hanging near its record highs Friday, as U.S. stocks head toward the finish of their best week for 2024 so far.
The S&P 500 was virtually flat in late afternoon trading after setting an all-time high in each of the last three days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 199 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:50 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Nike was dragging on the market after falling 5.9%. It reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected, but it’s in the midst of several fundamental changes to inject more newness into its shoes and other products to make them more popular.
Shares of Lululemon Athletica also dropped despite a better-than-expected profit report. The athletic apparel company gave forecasts for revenue and profit over the upcoming fiscal year that fell short of analysts’ expectations, and it sank 15.2%.
Reddit fell 3.8% to give back some of the big gain from its dynamic debut on the U.S. stock market. The eclectic bazaar of online communities offered its stock at an initial price of $34 a share and gained 48.4% in its first day of trading on Thursday.
Helping to support the market was FedEx, which climbed 6.8% after reporting stronger profit than expected despite what it called “a difficult demand environment.”
In the bond market, Treasury yields sank to pull back further for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.21% from 4.27% late Thursday.
Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve indicated that it still may deliver three cuts to interest rates this year, as long as inflation keeps cooling. That calmed worries on Wall Street that several hotter-than-expected inflation reports this year could force it to take rate cuts off the table.
The Federal Reserve has already raised its main interest rate to its highest level since 2001, and Wall Street is hoping for cuts to begin in June. Such reductions would relieve pressure on the economy and financial system.
Continued expectations for a coming pivot to rate cuts are likely to support stocks, along with surging investment in artificial intelligence and several other drivers, according to David Lefkowitz, Hehad of U.S. equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.
But he sees the S&P 500 ending the year close to where it is now, after it’s already leaped roughly 10% so far in 2024.
Read the full report from the Associated Press here.
