Dow and S&P 500 close lower, snap longest weekly winning streak in 4 years
The major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower on Friday as they snapped multi-week winning streaks while some of the largest tech stocks pulled back. The Dow Jones industrial average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) fell 39.73 points to close at 23,422.21, with Intel and Merck as the biggest decliners. But a 3 percent gain in Disney shares capped losses in the 30-stock index. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined 0.1 percent to 2,582.28, with health care and energy as the biggest declining sectors. Johnson Controls was the worst-performing stock in the index, falling 4.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite (NASDAQ:.IXIC) finished just above the flatline at 6,750.94. The Dow and S&P 500 snapped an eight-week winning, their longest since 2013; the Nasdaq ended a six-week winning streak. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 — which tracks small-cap stocks — had its biggest weekly decline since August.
"Short-term overbought conditions are still in place, so we think it will take a couple of weeks for the pullback to run its course," said Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG. "The loss of momentum is likely to be most pronounced in stocks that have extended their uptrends over the past several weeks." Some of the largest tech stocks closed lower for the week, including Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet. Tech has been the best-performing sector this year. Stocks have also been pressured by fears that a corporate tax cut could be delayed. On Thursday, the three major indexes fell more than 1 percent before closing well off their session lows as details of a Senate tax plan emerged. The plan would push back a corporate tax cut until 2019. Worries about a pullback in high-yield bonds also pressured stocks this week. The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF is down 1 percent for the week. High-yield bonds have served as a leading indicator for risk appetite in the past.
Chip maker stocks bucked the trend, however. Nvidia posted earnings per share and revenue that easily beat analyst expectations. The company's stock rose 5.3 percent and was the best performer in the S&P 500. "We've been bearish for most of this year, anticipating that a slowdown in gaming would drive sharp revenue deceleration in 2017," said Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah, in a note. "However, Nvidia demonstrated good diversity in gaming with Nintendo Switch and crypto-currency, offsetting weakness in core gaming earlier in the year." Other chip makers, including Micron and Advanced Micro Devices, also saw their shares rise. The semiconductor space has been on fire this year. The iShares PHLX Semiconductor exchange-traded fund (SOXX) is up more than 40 percent in 2017. The retail sector also saw positive earnings surprises, with J.C. Penney shares surging 15.3 percent on stronger-than-expected quarterly results. Nordstrom's results also beat expectations, but the stock fell slightly on a bigger-than-expected decline in same-store sales, a key metric for retailers.
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