US stock indexes gave up an early gain and drifted to a mixed finish Friday, helping give the market its first losing week since early September.
- The Dow fell 259.96 points, or 0.6%, to 42,114.40, its first weekly loss after six straight gains.
- The S&P 500 fell 1.74 points, less than 0.1%, to 5,808.12, ending a six-week winning streak.
- The Nasdaq rose 103.12 points, or 0.6%, to 18,518.61, extending its winning streak to seven weeks.
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow have been generally falling back from record highs set late last week, the AP reports. The market has been more cautious amid worries that stocks have become too expensive. Higher Treasury yields, which make stocks less appealing to investors, also added pressure. "There's a degree of exhaustion following a very steady move higher," said Mark Hackett of Nationwide. "It's just natural after that kind of move to have a period of sideways movement." Company earnings reports, which have been mostly solid, continued to be a focus for investors. The latest round could give Wall Street a better sense of whether the high stock prices are justified.
Capital One Financial rose 5.2% after beating Wall Street's third-quarter financial forecasts. Ugg footwear maker Deckers Outdoor climbed 10.6% after raising its financial forecast for the year. Strong earnings drove gains for several companies. Technology companies L3Harris Technologies rose 3.5%, and Western Digital rose 4.7%. More than a third of the companies in the S&P 500 index have reported their latest quarterly financial results. Most of the results beat analysts' forecasts. Outside of earnings, Spirit Airlines jumped 15.3% after the struggling budget airline said it will cut jobs and sell airplanes. Capri Holdings, owner of the Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors luxury brands, lost almost half its value, 48.9%, after a judge halted a purchase of the company by Tapestry, which makes Coach handbags. Tapestry rose 13.5%. McDonald's lost another 3% as the deadly outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to its Quarter Pounders expanded. The stock lost 7.6% this week as it posted its worst weekly loss in more than four years.
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