On Friday, stock prices on Wall Street had mixed results. Nvidia’s stock went up, while Microsoft’s stock went down. Treasury yields, which show how much the government pays for borrowing money, also fell after President Donald Trump announced plans for tariffs but didn’t create any new ones.
Recent data showed that U.S. retail sales fell by 0.9% in January, which was more than people expected. This drop came after a slightly better bump in December. The yield on the 10-year U.S. government bond decreased by about 7 basis points to 4.44%.
The Nasdaq 100, a group of the biggest tech companies on the market, rose 0.4% to reach a record high. Nvidia’s shares went up by 2.6%, and Apple also climbed by 1.3%. However, Microsoft and Amazon’s stocks went down by 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
Trump instructed his economic team to work on tariffs for countries that tax U.S. imports. This could impact trade, but no new tariffs were set. Howard Lutnick, who is expected to be the commerce secretary, said that they will deal with each country one by one. Studies on this topic should be done by April 1.
Markets were stable this week, with reactions to Trump’s announcements. Dennis Dick, a trader, said people are focused on what Trump will decide next regarding tariffs.
Earlier in the week, stock prices rose due to reports that U.S. producer prices increased in January. Traders now think there might be at least one interest rate cut by the end of the year.
The S&P 500 only fell slightly, down 0.01%, closing at 6,114.63 points. The Nasdaq went up by 0.41% to 20,026.77 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.37% to 44,546.08 points.
In the S&P 500, seven out of the 11 sectors went down, especially consumer staples, which were down by 1.16%. There were fewer trades this time, with 14.4 billion shares, compared to the average of 15 billion.
For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the Nasdaq increased by 2.6%, and the Dow rose by 0.5%. Airbnb’s shares jumped by 14% after announcing more revenue, but DaVita’s stocks fell 11% due to disappointing profit projections.
Applied Materials dropped 8% after they forecast lower revenues for the next quarter. The U.S. stock market will be closed on Monday for Presidents Day.
Finally, there were more stocks falling than rising in the S&P 500, with a ratio of 1.3-to-one. The S&P 500 saw 37 new highs and 7 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 131 new highs and 83 new lows.
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