Wall Street stocks concluded a winning week on a tepid note on Friday (Jan 24), retreating following mixed earnings in a move attributed to profit taking.
After a flattish open, all three major indices moved into negative territory – a trend that held the rest of the session.
“This is normal consolidation or profit taking after a big two-week rally,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investment.
The S&P 500, which closed at a record on Thursday, fell 0.3 per cent to 6,101.24.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 0.3 per cent to 44,424.25, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.5 per cent to 19,954.3.
Stocks have gained in recent sessions following benign US inflation data, strong earnings from banks and the new presidency of Donald Trump in Washington.
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Markets have thus far welcomed his growth-oriented agenda and largely shrugged off his threats of tariffs.
Sarhan said the market was poised for a pause given the heavy calendar next week, which includes a Federal Reserve monetary policy decision and earnings from tech giants and other big companies.
Among individual companies, Facebook parent Meta shot up 3.2 per cent after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would invest up to US$65 billion in 2025 in new artificial intelligence infrastructure, including a data centre “so large it would cover a significant part of Manhattan”.
Boeing dropped 1.4 per cent after announcing it will incur a bigger than expected loss in the fourth quarter due mainly to costs connected to a lengthy labour strike last year.
Others with big earnings-related moves included American Express, down 1.4 per cent; CSX, down 5.8 per cent; and Texas Instruments, down 13.1 per cent. AFP
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