Market flirts with record, then dips
NEW YORK - Falling technology and financial stocks pulled U.S. indexes back from the edge of record highs Friday. Bond yields gave up some of their big gains from the last few days, and the dollar downshifted from its sharp climb against other currencies.
NEW YORK - Falling technology and financial stocks pulled U.S. indexes back from the edge of record highs Friday. Bond yields gave up some of their big gains from the last few days, and the dollar downshifted from its sharp climb against other currencies.
All this closed 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 that several more increases may be in store for 2017.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped slightly, helping drive stocks that pay big dividends higher. They often trade in the opposite direction of interest rates on expectations that income investors will buy them when bond yields are dropping.
Utility stocks and real estate investment trusts both rose 1.2 percent on 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 S&P 500 is trading at about 19 times its earnings per share over the last 12 months, according to FactSet. That compares with its average price-earnings ratio of 15.6 over the last 15 years and is an indication that stocks are, if not expensive, no longer cheap.