Wall Street ends the week mixed on profit taking ahead of index adjustments
- Dow outperforms other major sectors on a weekly basis.
- Financials and technology slip on Friday.
- WTI rally helps energy finish week on a strong note.
After starting the last day of the week modestly higher, major equity indexes in the United States closed mixed as investors booked their profits ahead of Monday's sector reshuffle. During the first half of the session, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 indexes touched fresh record highs before retracing their gains into the closing bell. The S&P 500 Financials and the S&P 500 Information Technology sectors, which performed well throughout the week, finished the day 0.36% and 0.34% lower respectively.
Commenting on today's market action, “The feeling is the stock market resembles a drunk at the top of a hill. He’s wobbling, and you know that drunk’s going to fall, but you just don’t know when or how hard,” Bernard Baumohl, the chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, New Jersey, told Reuters.
Following some wild swings during the NA session, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate settled near the $71 mark with a 1% gain and boosted the S&P 500 Energy Index, which added 0.72% on the day. Meanwhile, led by the AT&T's sharp rally, the S&P 500 Telecom Services Sector added 1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.75 points, or 0.27%, to 26,727.73, the S&P 500 lost 1.44 points, or 0.05%, to 2,929.31 and the Nasdaq fell 41.86 points, or 0.52%, to 7,986.37. On a weekly basis, The DJIA and the S&P 500 gained 2.18% and 0.83%, respectively, while Nasdaq shed 0.3%.
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
