WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After recovering from an initial slump but still ending Thursday's session mostly lower, stocks showed a notable move back to the downside in early trading on Friday.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 once again regained ground as the day progressed but closed in negative territory. The Nasdaq slid 229.82 points or 0.9 percent to 25,136.27 and the S&P 500 fell 30.73 points or 0.4 percent to 7,561.67.
The narrower Dow, on the other hand, spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing up 50.46 points or 0.1 percent to 52,347.55.
Despite closing lower for two straight days, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 surged by 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent for the week, respectively. The Dow also shot up by 2.1 percent.
Weakness among technology stocks once again weighed on Wall Street, as reflected by the notable decline by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) showed another significant move to the downside, with the AI leader tumbling by 2 percent.
Shares of Nvidia recovered from an initial sell-off but still dove by more than 4 percent on Thursday following news CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO following the resignation of Jensen Huang.
Semiconductor stocks subsequently turned in some of the tech sector's worst performances, resulting in a 3.4 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Computer hardware and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index and the NYSE Arca Networking Index both tumbling by 2.6 percent.
Outside of the tech sector, airline stocks also saw some weakness, although energy stocks showed strong moves to the upside.
The weakness on Wall Street also came as treasury yields extended a recent surge following the release of the Labor Department's report on producer price inflation in the month of October.
While the report showed a slightly smaller-than-expected monthly increase in producer prices, the annual rate of producer price accelerated to 6.5 percent, the fastest pace of growth since November 2022.
'For equities, 6.5% producer inflation matters because companies can get squeezed from both sides,' said Chris Osmond, Chief Investment Officer for Fifth Third Wealth Advisors.
'Persistent input costs pressure margins, while higher bond yields raise the discount rate investors apply to those earnings,' he added. 'That combination puts a much higher hurdle on expensive stocks whose valuations depend on earnings far into the future.'
The report also indicated inflation is broadening beyond energy, as energy prices edged lower but food prices jumped and prices for services increased for a fifth consecutive month.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.6 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.6 percent, although Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have extended the notable downward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, has jumped 5.3 basis points to 5.156 percent.
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