Wall Street unable to end the week on a high note

Wall Street stayed largely unchanged on Friday amid heightened expectations of a March rate hike.

Financial stocks,  among the best-performing S&P 500 sectors with +0.4%,  showed a good performance as rising interest rates opens the door to a higher earning potential for the lenders. On the other hand, real estate struggled, recording a fall of 0.4%, with mortgages likely to become more expensive in near-future.

Although equities are not a fan of rising rates, in the face of a stronger economic expansion, the negative impacts should stay limited.Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen gave a strong hint towards an interest hike in March by saying that the committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 2.74 points, or 0.01%, to end the week at 21,005.71. The S&P 500 rose 1.2 points, or 0.05%, to 2,383.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.53 points, or 0.16%, to 5,870.75.

Despite the sharp fall witnessed yesterday and today's dull movements, the Dow was up 0.9%, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and the Nasdaq was up 0.4 percent for the week.