Stock indexes hold near records to cap another strong week
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stock indexes held near their record highs Friday, capping yet another up week for the market. Drops for commodity producers helped to offset jumps for Kraft Heinz and other makers of everyday items for consumers.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down by a fraction of a point at 2,346 as of 2:55 p.m. Eastern time. Its pace has slowed since setting a record high on Wednesday, which came on the heels of a seven-day winning streak. The S&P 500 is on pace for its fourth straight weekly gain.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,579 after hitting an all-time high Thursday. It's on pace for its first drop in seven days. The Nasdaq composite rose 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,828. Roughly three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
HITTING THE PAUSE BUTTON: The last two lackadaisical days for stocks follow a strong run, where the market climbed quickly for weeks on stronger-than-expected reports on the economy and corporate earnings. Hopes for lower taxes and other business-friendly policies from Washington provided another big push.
The recent slowdown was more a result of investors looking to cash in some profits following the strong run for stocks than on any fear or need to get out of the market, said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.
"People don't want unnecessary risk heading into a three-day weekend," he said. "This is more about taking off risk than about aggressive selling."
U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Presidents Day.
Kinahan pointed to calmness in the markets for the VIX index, which measures expectations for upcoming volatility in the S&P 500, and for gold, a traditional landing spot when investors are nervous.
DROPPING YIELDS: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.43 percent from 2.45 percent late Thursday. The two-year yield dipped to 1.19 percent from 1.21 percent, and the 30-year Treasury yield sank to 3.03 percent from 3.05 percent.
BACK TO THE KITCHEN: Kraft Heinz surged after it made an offer to buy European consumer goods giant Unilever, only to get rejected. Unilever said the bid was too low. It offered 18 percent more than where Unilever's shares closed on Thursday. Kraft Heinz, which is behind the Lunchables and Oscar Mayer brands, jumped $7.97, or 9.1 percent, to $95.25. U.S.-listed shares of Unilever, which sells Breyers ice cream, Dove soap and Q-tips, surged $5.74, or 13.5 percent, to $48.31.
KICKED IN THE CAN: Campbell Soup had the biggest drop in the S&P 500 after the company surprised analysts by reporting weaker revenue in its latest quarter than a year earlier. Its earnings were better than Wall Street had forecast, however. Shares fell $3.96, or 6.3 percent, to $58.59.
MORE CLOUDS AHEAD: General Mills fell $2.19, or 3.6 percent, to $59.35 after it warned of tougher times ahead. It said weaker-than-expected sales for its yogurt and soup brands pushed it to cut its sales and profit forecast for its fiscal year, which ends in May.
AROUND THE WORLD: In Europe, the French CAC 40 index fell 0.7 percent, Germany's DAX was virtually flat and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.3 percent and South Korea's Kospi index slipped 0.1 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 112.96 Japanese yen from 113.11 yen late Thursday. The euro fell to $1.0644 from $1.0677, and the British pound fell to $1.2425 from $1.2497.
COMMODITIES: Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 4 cents to settle at $53.40 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 16 cents to close at $55.81 a barrel. Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.83 per 1,000 cubic feet, wholesale gasoline fell nearly 1 cent to $1.52 per gallon and heating oil rose a fraction of a penny to $1.64 per gallon.
Gold fell $2.50 to settle at $1,239.10 per ounce, silver fell 4 cents to $18.03 per ounce and copper fell 1 cent to $2.71 per pound.