WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the rally seen during Thursday's session, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before ending the day mixed.
While the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the day in positive territory, the narrower Dow posted a modest loss on the day.
The Nasdaq climbed 104.25 points or 0.4 percent to 26,522.55 and the S&P 500 rose 12.74 points or 0.2 percent to 7,650.50, but the Dow dipped 95.40 points or 0.2 percent to 51,682.64.
The major averages also turned in a mixed performance for the week. While the Nasdaq advanced by 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 percent and the Dow slumped by 1.7 percent.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a strong move to the upside going into the end of the day amid a rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.8 percent.
Brokerage stocks also turned in a strong performance, resulting in a 1.1 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
On the other hand, interest rate-sensitive utilities, telecom and housing stocks showed a significant move to the downside.
The choppy trading on the day came amid a mixed performance by crude oil prices and treasury yields, which have been key drivers of trading in recent sessions.
While U.S. crude oil futures have moved sharply lower on the day, pulling back below $100 a barrel, treasury yields showed a strong move back to the upside on the day.
Oil prices moved lower amid optimism about a potential de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, but treasury yields jumped due to ongoing worries about the outlook for interest rates.
The Federal Reserve raised rates by a quarter point earlier this week due to elevated inflation, and officials' projections suggest the central bank is likely to raise rates at least once more this year.
Overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued, however, as some traders took a step back to assess the outlook for the markets following recent volatility.
On the U.S. economic front, the Fed released a report showing industrial production unexpectedly came in flat in the month of August, with a jump in utilities output offset by a decrease in manufacturing output.
The Fed said industrial production was unchanged in August after rising by an unrevised 0.2 percent in July. Economists had expected industrial production to climb by 0.3 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets pulled back sharply on the day. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both slumped by 1.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a notable move back to the downside following the strength seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 5.1 basis points to 4.998 percent.
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