NEW YORK -- Falling technology and financial stocks pulled U.S. indexes back from the edge of record highs on Friday. Bond yields gave up some of their big gains from the past few days, and the dollar downshifted from its sharp climb against other currencies.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.96 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,258.07. It had wobbled up and down through the day, never rising by more than 0.3 percent or falling by more than 0.3 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.83 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 19,843.41. The Nasdaq composite fell 19.69, or 0.4 percent, to 5,437.16 after climbing above its record closing level earlier in the day. All three indexes remain within 1 percent of their record highs.
Friday's moves close a week where stocks slowed their sharp ascent since last month's presidential election, and bond yields and the dollar continued their big gains. A driving force was the Federal Reserve's move Wednesday to raise interest rates for only the second time in a decade and indicate several more increases may be in store for 2017.
The dollar gave back a smidgen of its gains Friday. The ICE U.S. Dollar index, which measures the dollar against six other currencies, dipped 0.2 percent. The index remains close to its highest level in 14 years.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury likewise regressed a bit Friday, dipping to 2.59 percent from 2.6 percent late Thursday. It's still near its highest level since 2014.
Utility stocks and real-estate investment trusts both rose 1.2 percent Friday, the largest gains among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500.
Banks and other financial stocks fell in a rare off-day. The sector has been cruising since last month's election on expectations that higher interest rates will boost their profits.
Financial stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent. Bank of America fell 50 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $22.66, and Regions Financial fell 32 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $14.20.
Technology stocks in the S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent. Software giant Oracle fell $1.76, or 4.3 percent, to $39.10 after reporting revenue for its latest quarter that fell short of analysts' expectations.
Despite drops for the S&P 500 and other indexes, more stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange than fell.
In foreign stock markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 percent, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2 percent. In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent.
Crude oil rose $1 to settle at $51.90 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $1.19 to close at $55.21 a barrel in London. Natural gas slipped nearly 2 cents to settle at $3.415 per 1,000 cubic feet, wholesale gasoline rose 1.5 cents to $1.56 a gallon and heating oil rose 3 cents to $1.67 a gallon.
Gold recovered a bit after falling to its lowest price in 10 months on Thursday. It rose $7.60 to settle at $1,137.40 an ounce. Silver rose nearly 26 cents to $16.22 an ounce, and copper fell 3.6 cents to $2.56 a pound.
Business on 12/17/2016