NEW YORK — U.S. stocks finished with a split decision Friday after a wobbly day of trading. Amazon led a rally among retailers, but Exxon Mobil dragged energy companies lower to end an uneven week on Wall Street.
So far the first quarter has been a strong one for U.S. companies, but it hasn’t thrilled investors. On Friday, Amazon, Microsoft and Expedia all climbed after reporting earnings, but Exxon, Charter Communications and Starbucks all slumped. High-dividend companies such as utilities rose as bond yields slipped, but defense contractors fell. Asian stocks rose after the landmark summit of the leaders from North and South Korea.
This week, investors worried that rising raw materials costs, as well as higher interest rates and wages, could eat into corporate profits. Meanwhile, they were pleased with strong results from Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others. The S&P 500 index finished the week almost exactly where it started.
Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist for Voya Investment Strategies, said investors haven’t regained their confidence since February’s market plunge. But in her view, the economy continues to do well and there are few signs that inflation or wages are about to rocket higher, an outcome that could dent corporate profits.
“There’s reason to think things are very, very good, but not overheating. That’s a great environment for earnings,” she said. “The market is getting a little bit spoiled.”
The S&P 500 index gained 2.97 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,669.91. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 11.15 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 24,311.19. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.12 points to 7,119.80. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 1.66 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,556.24. Most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange finished higher.
Amazon said its first-quarter profit more than doubled as consumers shopped more online and revenue from its cloud computing business continued to rise.
The results were far stronger than Wall Street expected and the stock jumped 3.6 percent to $1,572.62, adding to Thursday’s 4 percent gain. Amazon also said it will hike the price of an annual Prime membership to $119 from $99 in the U.S.
Amazon recovered the last of its losses from late March and early April. It slumped after President Trump repeatedly criticized the company over issues including sales tax collection and its contracts with the U.S. Postal Service.
Even with help from climbing oil prices, Exxon Mobil’s results Friday still fell short of estimates and its stock dropped 3.8 percent to $77.79. Cable company Charter Communications tumbled 11.7 percent to $263.33. Jefferies & Co. analyst Scott Goldman said the company’s residential video and high speed data subscriber totals were both weaker than he expected.
Technology companies also gave up an early gain. Intel rose 5 percent in the morning but later dipped 0.6 percent to $52.73. After a big rally in the morning, Microsoft rose 1.7 percent to $95.82.
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