Wall Street closes flat as investors get ready for long weekend
Major equity indexes remained virtually unchanged on Friday ahead of the Memorial Day weekend but were able to record gains on a weekly basis after two consecutive weeks of losses.
"Trading volume, with just about 5.2 billion shares changing hands on U.S. exchanges, was the lowest of the year," Reuters reported. However, despite the quietness, led by Costco's 1.8% gain, retailers continued to perform well.
Commenting on today's low volatility, "The market is almost eerily quiet. The only thing that tends to move the markets - at least recently - is political news," Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors, told Reuters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.67 points, or 0.01%, to 21,080.28, the S&P 500 added 0.75 points, or 0.03%, to 2,415.82 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 4.94 points, or 0.08%, to 6,210.19. On a weekly basis, the Dow added 1.3%, the S&P 500 gained 1.4% and the Nasdaq rose 2.1%.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- Quieter week reiterates generally solid fundamentals - Wells Fargo
- UK PM May: G7 clear that Russia and Iran must push for Syria ceasefire
- CME Group FedWatch's June hike probability drew close to 90% on US Data
- What has changed in EM - BBH
- Consumer sentiment holds near its recent high - Wells Fargo
- Oil and the S&P 500 - BBH
- US: Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.2% in the first quarter of 2017