NEW YORK, July 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors weighed mixed corporate earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.51 points, or 0.01 percent, to 35,227.69. The S&P 500 added 1.47 points, or 0.03 percent, to 4,536.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 30.50 points, or 0.22 percent, to 14,032.81.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with utilities and health leading the gainers by rising 1.50 percent and 1.01 percent, respectively. Communication services and industrials led the laggards by losing 0.50 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the materials sector remained unchanged.
U.S. stocks finished mixed on Friday, with markets stabilizing after Thursday's selloff in the Nasdaq. The Dow notched its tenth straight day of gains and the S&P 500 logged weekly gains.
Investors were eyeing more earnings from well-known companies. Shares of CSX fell 3.71 percent after the transportation giant missed revenue expectations in its second quarter. American Express dropped 3.92 percent after posting lower-than-expected revenues. Interpublic Group was the S&P 500's worst performer, tumbling 13.32 percent after the advertising company slashed its growth forecast.
Corporate Q2 earnings have been mixed so far. About 75 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported Q2 earnings results have exceeded analysts' expectations, according to FactSet data, though overall earnings outlook is not favored by analysts.
"The current market is priced for perfection. When a company comes out, beats, and guides higher, it still can go down if there are any concerns or worries," said Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates, in an interview with MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 is getting rebalanced after its biggest tech companies got too big. Some portfolio managers recalibrated their funds to account for the rebalancing, fueling volatility in Friday's trading.
"There also seems to be a little anxiety on some of the top tech stocks as they are going to get a haircut on Monday on the Nasdaq realignment," according to Navellier.
Investors are now looking ahead to more corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.
The Fed is expected to resume raising rates at the July 26 meeting. Fed funds futures have seen a 96 percent chance that the central bank will deliver a quarter-point rate rise, bringing the target range to between 5.25 percent and 5.50 percent, almost a 22-year high, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
"This seems like it will be the last rate hike in the Fed's tightening cycle, but we will have two more inflation reports before the Fed will need to commit that more rate hikes are no longer necessary," according to Moya. ■
