New York (ap)
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 3.13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,378.25 on Friday. Earlier gains fueled by the Federal Reserve meant the index rose 0.2 percent for the week. It’s the seventh weekly gain for the S&P 500 in the last eight, and the index is within 1 percent of its record high.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 19.93 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,914.62. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.24 points, or 0.004 percent, to 5,901.00. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks rose 5.49, or 0.4 percent, to 1,391.52. Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
The midweek rally came after the Federal Reserve gave a more measured forecast for interest-rate increases than some investors expected. While raising rates by a quarter of a percentage point, the central bank said that it’s still planning a total of three increases this year.
“The big focal point for the week was the Fed,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management. “Now that we have that behind us, the rest is window dressing.”
Treasury yields dipped, resuming their slide that began with the Fed’s announcement. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.50 percent from 2.54 percent late Thursday. The two-year yield dipped to 1.31 percent from 1.34 percent, and the 30-year yield sank to 3.11 percent from 3.15 percent.
Financial stocks fell 1.1 percent, the largest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500. Utility stocks in the S&P 500, which pay some of the biggest dividends in the index, rose 0.6 percent.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 3 cents to settle at $48.78 per barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose 2 cents to $51.76 per barrel.
Natural gas rose 5 cents to $2.95 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline inched up less than a cent to $1.60 per gallon, and heating oil rose a fraction of a penny to $1.51 per gallon.