Nvidia was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500, as has become almost routine recently. Adobe and Broadcom were close behind.
All told, the S&P 500 dipped 2.14 points to 5,431.60. The Dow lost 57.94 to 38,589.16, and the Nasdaq composite added 21.32 to 17,688.88.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields ticked lower after a preliminary report from the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers failed to improve this month, against economists’ expectations.
Solid spending by U.S. households has been one of the main engines keeping the economy out of a recession, but “assessments of personal finances dipped, due to modestly rising concerns over high prices as well as weakening incomes,” according to Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers.
Perhaps more importantly for financial markets, expectations for upcoming inflation among U.S. consumers don’t seem to be moving much, even if they are relatively high. That’s an encouraging signal that the economy could avoid a self-fulfilling cycle where expectations for higher inflation drive behavior that creates more of it.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.21% from 4.25% late Thursday. It had been as high as 4.60% late last month, before a couple of encouraging reports on inflation.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% after the country’s central bank held steady on interest rates.