WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After ending yesterday's choppy trading session little changed, stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have moved moderately lower, although the narrower Dow is bucking the downtrend.
Currently, the major averages are turning in mixed performance. While the Dow is up 99.28 points or 0.2 percent at 45,010.54, the S&P 500 is down 16.75 points or 0.3 percent at 6,451.79 and the Nasdaq is down 96.28 points or 0.4 percent at 21,614.39.
The weakness in the broader markets comes following the release of mixed batch of U.S. economic data, which has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.
While the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales increased in line with economist estimates in July, the University of Michigan released a separate report showing an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in August.
The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.5 percent in July after jumping by an upwardly revised 0.9 percent in June.
Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales rose by 0.3 percent in July after growing by 0.8 percent in June. The increase in ex-auto sales also matched expectations.
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index fell to 58.6 in August from 61.7 in July. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 62.0.
On the inflation front, year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 in July, reflecting increases across multiple demographic groups and all three political affiliations.
Long-run inflation expectations also surged to 3.9 percent in August from 3.4 percent in July, rebounding following three straight months of decreases.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of July, while the Federal Reserve released a report showing a slight pullback by industrial production in July.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slumping by 2.2 percent.
Considerable weakness is also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss being posted by the KBW Bank Index.
On the other hand, healthcare stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Health Care Index up by 1.3 percent.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 1.7 percent to a record closing high, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index is just below the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.7 basis points at 4.320 percent.
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