NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks gave up an early rally Friday and struggled to another mixed finish as investors continued sell former favorites like retailers. Makers of household goods rose again as a week of choppy trading concluded.
Stocks surged in early trading after better-than-expected reports from companies including Procter & Gamble, American Express and PayPal. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker, had its biggest rally in 10 years. But the gains for indexes faded after a report showed U.S. home sales fell for the sixth month in a row. That hurt smaller and more U.S.-focused companies.
The S&P 500 index lost 1 point to 2,767.78. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up most of an early gain. It jumped as much as 229 points early on but finished 64.89 points higher, or 0.3 percent, at 25,444.34.
The Nasdaq composite sagged 36.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,449.03. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 18.71 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,542.04. The Russell 2000 is at its lowest in almost six months as investors worry that the U.S. economy could slow and interest rates could rise, a bigger challenge for smaller companies.
The market settled back into its usual pattern from the past two weeks, as companies that depend on economic growth struggled and those with more "defensive" qualities such as high dividends did better, a sign investors are worried about a few threats to growth: rising interest rates, trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and this week, some sluggish reports about housing construction and sales.
"We don't see too many other yellow or red flags right now, but [housing is] certainly one of them," said Mona Mahajan, U.S. investment strategist for Allianz Global Investors. Mahajan said company earnings aren't doing much for the stock market right now because investors know the next two quarters should be strong, and they're concerned that growth in 2019 will be worse than expected.
Tuesday was the best gain in six months for U.S. stocks, but the S&P 500 fell every other day this week and ended the week up just 0.02 percent. That was good enough to end a three-week run of losses, but most of the market's recent gains have been swiftly followed by declines.
The S&P 500 hasn't risen two days in a row since Sept. 20. It finished at a record high that day, which was the last in a three-day string of gains. The benchmark index is down 5.6 percent since then.
Procter & Gamble, which makes Tide, Pampers and Gillette razors, soared 8.8 percent to $87.30 after reporting that sales of fabric- and home-care products rose in its latest quarter while beauty products revenue jumped 20 percent.
Business on 10/20/2018