Stocks on Wall Street gave up early gains and finished lower Friday, ending a three-week winning streak for the S&P 500.
A flurry of selling late in the day left the benchmark index 0.4 percent lower and in the red for the week. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.7 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.1 percent lower.
Despite the downbeat finish, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq remain near their all-time highs.
A pullback in big technology stocks, which have been big winners in the market’s record-breaking runup, weighed on the 안전 market. Apple fell 1.6 percent, Microsoft lost 1.3 percent and Meta Platforms ended 3 percent lower.
The late-afternoon burst of selling may reflect traders taking profits, with the market near all-time highs, or rebalancing their portfolios as the second quarter comes to a close, said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was some profit-taking today, especially out of the names that have really run up,” Mayfield said. “That could be why we’re seeing a little bit of additional weakness from big tech versus the rest of the market.”
The market headed higher in the early going following a closely watched report that showed inflation continues easing . Investors are hoping that cooling inflation will prompt the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates, which remain at their highest level in more than 20 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.6 percent in May compared with a year ago, according to the latest personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE. That signaled continued easing from a 2.7 percent reading in April and is sharply lower than the peak reading of 7.1 percent two years ago.
“It’s moving in the right direction and this is what the Fed needs to make a decision to cut rates,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.
The PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and the latest reading is encouraging for economists and investors who are hoping for rate cuts to help ease pressure on the market and borrowers. Wall Street is betting that the Fed will start cutting interest rates at its meeting in September.
Treasury yields rose in the bond market after initially losing ground following the latest signal of easing inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, rose to 4.38 percent from 대표하는 4.30 percent just prior to the release of the PCE data. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, rose to 4.74 percent from 4.72 percent just prior to the data’s release.