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BCN-06
US-STOCKS-MARKETS
US stocks edge lower as five-day winning streak ends
NEW YORK, Jan 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished slightly
lower Friday after a sleepy session as markets looked ahead to the start of
earnings season next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down a hair to finish the week at
23,995.95.
The broad-based S&P 500 lost less than 0.1 percent to end at 2,596.26,
while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.2 percent to close at
6,971.48.
US stocks had risen the last five sessions on dovish reassurances from Fed
officials and hopes US-China trade talks will yield a deal.
That streak ended on Friday, yet stocks recovered much of their losses
from earlier in the day.
After a bumpy December, investors have largely set aside fears over a
global economic slowdown, as well as mounting concerns over a prolonged US
government shutdown due to a budget dispute between President Donald Trump
and congressional Democrats.
Investors are now looking ahead to fourth-quarter earnings period, which
begins in earnest next week with results from JPMorgan Chase and other large
banks.
Markets will be looking for signs from executives on the extent to which
the economic outlook may have weakened, analysts said.
Among individual companies, General Motors surged 7.0 percent after
forecasting better-than-expected profits for 2018 and 2019 following job cuts
announced in December.
Activision Blizzard plunged 9.4 percent following news that video game
developer Bungie will assume the Destiny game venture on its own.
Netflix jumped 4.0 percent following upgrades from UBS and Raymond James.
BSS/AFP/HR/0918