U.S. stock indexes stemmed an early slide Friday, finishing mostly higher and nudging the benchmark S&P 500 index to its second weekly gain in a row.
The S&P 500 rose 1.83 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,707.88. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 63.20 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,106.33.
The Nasdaq composite added 9.85 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,298.20. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies picked up 0.77 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,506.39. Major stock indexes in Europe finished lower.
Gains in technology and consumer-goods companies outweighed losses in financial stocks and retailers as investors continued to size up the latest batch of quarterly corporate snapshots.
Before a late-afternoon flurry of buying, the market had been on pace to finish lower as investors hit pause after a tumultuous two months where the index followed up its worst December since 1931 with its best January in three decades.
"Earnings are coming in good -- we're seeing over 15 percent growth -- but there are some concerns about the next quarter that growth is going to be pretty close to zero," said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist at Voya Investment Management.
Traders have been worried about predicted slowdowns in economies around the world, with trade tensions between the United States and China adding to the strain. Warnings about slower growth from Europe and the United Kingdom earlier this week hit hard, helping to derail a five-day winning streak for the S&P 500.
Technology stocks drove much of the market's late-day recovery Friday, with Motorola Solutions Inc. leading the pack. The stock vaulted 14.1 percent.
Financial stocks took some of the heaviest losses and were hurt by a drop in interest rates, which can limit the profits they make from lending money. Morgan Stanley slid 1.6 percent.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.63 percent from 2.65 percent late Thursday. It had been above 3 percent as recently as December.
Traders continued to weigh a mixed batch of company earnings reports Friday.
Mattel Inc. surged to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after reporting a bigger-than-expected profit for its latest quarter. Its stock leaped 23.2 percent.
Rival Hasbro Inc., though, fell after its own earnings report fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Its stock dropped 1 percent.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plunged 9.1 percent, posting the biggest loss in the S&P 500 index, after reporting weaker-than-expected profit for the latest quarter. The company cited some weakness in China, which has been a big source of concern for investors recently.
Amazon.com Inc. dropped 1.6 percent after its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, said he was the target of blackmail by the publisher of the National Enquirer, which he said threatened to publish revealing personal photos of him. Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post, has been locked in an increasingly tense standoff with President Donald Trump, and the Enquirer has been a strong backer of Trump in the past. The Enquirer's publisher said on Friday that it acted lawfully while reporting the story and will look into the claims.
Amazon is one of the biggest stocks in the S&P 500, so its movements have a larger effect on index funds than other stocks.
Information for this article was contributed by Annabelle Liang of The Associated Press.
Business on 02/09/2019